THE LIFE AND LETTERS 
OF JOHN HAY 

IN TWO VOLUMES 
VOLUME II 



THE LIFE 
AND LETTERS OF 

JOHN HAY 



BY 



WILLIAM ROSCOE THAYER 



VOLUME II 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

MDCCCCXV 



Cf^ ^ 



COPYRIGHT, I90S, BY CLARA S. HAY 

COPYRIGHT, I9I4 AND 1915, BY HARPER & BROTHERS 

COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY WILLIAM ROSCOE THAVER 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVEtt 

Published October iqis 



CONTENTS 

XVII. "THE BREAD-WINNERS" i 

XVIII. "ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" i6 

XIX. THE WASHINGTON CIRCLE 52 

XX. LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 72 

XXI. LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS (continued) 97 

XXII. MAJOR Mckinley 128 

XXIII. HAY'S AMBASSADORSHIP 157 

XXIV. ENTER HAY SECRETARY OF STATE 184 

XXV. ALASKA: THE FIRST CANAL TREATY 202 

XXVI. THE BOXER ORDEAL AND THE OPEN 

DOOR 231 

XXVII. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 250 

XXVIII. THE GERMAN MENACE LOOMS UP 269 

XXIX. THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 296 

XXX. THEODORE ROOSEVELT SKETCHED BY 

JOHN HAY 332 

XXXI. HAY'S LAST LABORS 367 
XXXII. CONCLUSION 391 

INDEX 411 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

JOHN HAY IN NOVEMBER, 1904 {photogravure) Frontispiece 

From a photograph by Pach Bros. 

JOHN HAY'S WASHINGTON HOUSE 66 

JOHN HAY AND HENRY ADAMS CAMPING IN 
YELLOWSTONE PARK, 1894 116 

JOHN HAY WHEN AMBASSADOR TO ENGLAND 160 

ALVEY A. ADEE 188 

HENRY WHITE 188 

SECRETARY HAY IN HIS OFFICE IN THE STATE 
DEPARTMENT 232 

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT AND HIS CABINET 276 

LETTER TO THEODORE ROOSEVELT ON THE EVE 
OF HIS INAUGURATION AS PRESIDENT 364 

JOHN HAY'S SUMMER HOME, "THE FELLS," AT NEW- 
BURY, ON LAKE SUNAPEE, NEW HAMPSHIRE 408 



THE LIFE AND 
LETTERS OF JOHN HAY 

CHAPTER XVII 
"the bread-winners" 

WHILE Mr. Stone spent the summer of 1877 
in Europe, Hay took charge of the financier's 
business affairs. That was the season when the em- 
ployees of several of the great railroads organized 
strikes, which quickly turned into riots and created 
for a short time the most alarming condition of its 
kind which the country had known. The worst ex- 
cesses were committed at Pittsburg, but other large 
cities, particularly the railway centres, passed through 
the ordeal. Among them was Cleveland. 

With what emotions John Hay watched the ex- 
plosion appears in his letters to his father-in-law. 

To Amasa Stone 

Room i, Gushing 's Block, 
Cleveland, O., July 24, 1877. 

. . . Since last week the country has been at the 
mercy of the mob, and on the whole the mob has 
behaved rather better than the country. The shame- 



2 JOHN HAY 

ful truth is now clear, that the government Is utterly 
helpless and powerless in the face of an unarmed re- 
bellion of foreign workingmen, mostly Irish. There 
is nowhere any firm nucleus of authority — noth- 
ing to fall back on as a last resort. The Army 
has been destroyed by the dirty politicians, and 
the State militia is utterly inefficient. Any hour 
the mob chooses, it can destroy any city in the 
country — that is the simple truth. Fortunately, 
so far, it has not cared to destroy any but railway 
property. 

I saw Mr. Porter this morning. He says there 
are some 2000 men at CoUinwood with revolvers. 
The freight men here will not let the merchants have 
their goods, which are spoiling at the Depot. Mr. 
Newell has no authority to act, and Mr. Vanderbilt 
has as yet given no orders. 

All day yesterday a regular panic prevailed in the 
city. But the Rolling Mill resuming work helped 
matters somewhat, and to-day the scare has sub- 
sided. I was advised to send my wife and children 
out of town to some place of safety, but concluded 
we would risk it. The town is full of thieves and 
tramps waiting and hoping for a riot, but not daring 
to begin it themselves. If there were any attempt to 
enforce the law, I believe the town would be in 
ashes in six hours. The mob is as yet good-natured. 



"THE BREAD-WINNERS" 3 

A few shots fired by our militia company would en- 
sure their own destruction and that of the city. A 
miserable state of things — which I hope will be an- 
cient history before you read this letter. Of course, 
if things get worse, I shall send Clara and the babies 
away out of danger with George Dudgeon, and keep 
house myself. 

July 25. Things look more quiet to-day. Passen- 
ger and mail trains will begin running as soon as 
possible, Mr. Couch says, and it is probable that the 
strike may end by the surrender of the railroad com- 
panies to the demands of the strikers. This is dis- 
graceful, but it is hard to say what else could be 
done. There is a mob in every city ready to join 
with the strikers, and get their pay in robbery, and 
there is no means of enforcing the law in case of 
a sudden attack on private property. We are not 
Mexicans yet — but that is about the only advan- 
tage we have over Mexico. 

July 27, 1877. 

We have passed through a week of great anxiety, 
which has brought us, as it now appears, nearly to 
the en<i of the gravest danger. It is not worth while 
to recount details to you, and there are some things 
which I prefer not to put on paper. But I feel that a 
profound misfortune and disgrace has fallen on the 



4 JOHN HAY 

country, which no amount of energy or severity can 
now wholly remedy. 

One astonishing feature of the whole affair is that 
there has been very little fall in stocks. In the 
agony of the riots Rock Island went down a little, 
but recovered yesterday, before it really looked safe 
to buy, while a mob was still rampant in Chicago. 
Until the troops arrived, there was no safety in buy- 
ing, for the rioters might destroy millions of prop- 
erty in an hour. . . . 

The Democrats have nominated Bishop [of] Cin- 
cinnati for Governor. I do not know or care any- 
thing for him, but I am very glad that Converse was 
defeated. . . . 

I cannot feel at all sure yet as to the result of these 
troubles on the election. The Democrats will of 
course try to throw all the blame on the adminis- 
tration, but it is possible that the law-and-order 
men may rally to the party which is unquestionably 
the law-and-order party. The Democrats have 
tried to curry favor with the rioters in their platform, 
without however daring to approve the outrages — 
and the Republicans will also have a milk-and-water 
resolution in favor of law and order, without daring 
to condemn the strike. These are the creatures which 
manage our politics. 



"THE BREAD-WINNERS" 5 

August 17, 1877. 

I am profoundly disgusted with our candidate 
West. He has made a speech, modifying a little his 
idiotic talk here, but it is still bad enough. All his 
sympathies are with the laboring man, and none 
with the man whose enterprise and capital give him 
a living. He condemns the use of force against strikes 
and opposes the increase of the army. He is a little 
mixed on finance, but is better than the common run 
in that respect. I suppose I shall have to vote for 
him, but it is a pill.^ 

August 23, 1877. 

. . . Do you read the American news? If so, you 
must be sickened at the folly and cowardice of pub- 
lic men on both sides. Everything to flatter the 
mob. The one splendid exception is John Sherman's 
speech at Mansfield. I don't agree with everything 
he said, but it was a speech of ability, honesty and 
courage. , . . 

The prospects of labor and capital both seem 
gloomy enough. The very devil seems to have en- 
tered into the lower classes of working men, and 
there are plenty of scoundrels to encourage them to 
all lengths. 

* Richard M. Bishop, the Democratic candidate, was elected. 



6 JOHN HAY 

September 3, 1877, 

... I am thankful you did not see and hear what 
took place during the strikes. You were saved a very 
painful experience of human folly and weakness, as 
well as crime. I do not refer to the anxiety, etc., for 
you are not a man who would be overanxious even 
in a general panic; but you would have been very 
much disgusted and angered, I am sure. . . . 

Those riots of 1877 burnt deep into Colonel Hay's 
heart. Like the rest of the world, he had theorized 
on the likelihood of war between Capital and Labor; 
but he had reassured himself by the comfortable 
assumption that under American conditions — equal 
opportunity for all, high wages, equal laws, and the 
ballot-box — no angry laboring class could grow up. 
The riots blew such vaporing away : for they proved 
that the angry class already existed, that the ballot- 
box instead of weakening strengthened it, and that 
not only the politicians of both parties but also the 
constituted authorities would avoid, as long as pos- 
sible, grappling with it. 

The event was too large to be dismissed as an out- 
burst of temper: it must be accepted as a symptom, 
a portent. Did it mean that a cancer had attacked 
the body politic and would spread to the vital organs? 



"THE BREAD-WINNERS" 7 

Was Democracy a failure, — Democracy — for more 
than a century the dream of the down- trodden, the 
ideal of those who loved mankind and believed in 
its perfectibility, the Utopia which good men pre- 
dicted should somehow turn out to be a reality? 
Hay had sung his paean to liberty ; Hay had throbbed 
at the efforts of patriots in Spain and in France to 
overthrow their despots; he had even exulted over 
the signs of democratization in England. Had he 
been the victim of mirage? Was Democracy not the 
final goal of human society, but only a half-way stage 
between the despotism of Autocracy and the despot- 
ism of Socialism? 

These questions he could not evade; no more can 
you who read or I who write. The solution was not 
for his day; nor is it likely to come in ours. But he 
held, as did many of his contemporaries, that the 
assaults on Property were inspired by demagogues 
who used as their tools the loafers, the criminals, the 
vicious, — Society's dregs who have been ready at 
all times to rise against laws and government. That 
you have property is proof of industry and foresight 
on your part or your father's; that you have nothing, 
is a judgment on your laziness and vices, or on your 
improvidence. The world is a moral world ; which it 
would not be if virtue and vice received the same 
rewards. 



8 JOHN HAY 

This summary, though confessedly crude, may 
help, if it be not pressed too close, to define John 
Hay's position. The property you own — be it a tiny 
cottage or a palace — means so much more than the 
tangible object! With it are bound up whatever in 
historic times has stood for civilization. So an at- 
tack on Property becomes an attack on Civilization. 

After revolving these things for several years. Hay 
decided to embody them in a novel, which should 
serve as a warning to those sentimentalists who were 
coquetting with revolutionary theories, and to those 
responsible officials who, through cowardice or self- 
seeking, were tolerant of revolutionary practices. 
He wrote his novel, apparently in the winter of 1882- 
83, called it "The Bread-Winners," and sent it to 
Mr. Howells, who, although no longer the editor of 
the Atlantic Monthly, was in close relations with 
his successor, Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Mr. Howells 
read the manuscript with enthusiasm, and urged 
Aldrich to accept it. This Aldrich, after a slight in- 
spection, was eager to do, provided the author would 
let his name be published. But Hay clung to anon- 
ymity, and gave the book to Mr. Gilder of the Cen- 
tury Magazine. 

It ran through six installments, — the first appear- 
ing in the Century for August, 1883, — caught the 
public at once and became the novel of the year. 



"THE BREAD-WINNERS" 9 

Although the secret of its authorship must have been 
shared by eight or nine persons, it was never so au- 
thoritatively divulged that curiosity ceased. Any 
one familiar with Cleveland could not fail to recog- 
nize that city as the scene of the story; further rea- 
soning might have reduced the number of Cleve- 
landites capable of writing it to one — John Hay; 
but he, of course, denied, or gave an evasive answer, 
when the accusation was made to him point-blank. 
Perhaps he remembered Seward's excellent formula, 
jotted down in the White House Diary: " If I did n't 
know, I would gladly tell you." So to the end of his 
life Hay never acknowledged "The Bread- Winners," 

The success of "The Bread- Winners" during its 
serial publication outran that of any previous Ameri- 
can novel. Three things contributed to this — the 
cleverness of the book, the timeliness of the subject, 
and the mystery as to authorship. Readers and 
critics alike set themselves to guessing. The literary 
journals devoted columns to correspondents, some of 
whom proved that the author must be a man, while 
others insisted that only a woman could understand 
the heart of Woman as the unknown writer had done. 
The name of pretty nearly every literary worker was 
suggested. 

One lady in Madison, Wisconsin, wrote that, hav- 
ing "barely escaped a siege of brain fever in endea- 



10 JOHN HAY 

voring to pin it on to the guilty one by an analytical 
process," she would "save others from the calamity 
which threatened " her, by suggesting that the cul- 
prit "may be, and perhaps is, the Rev. Washington 
Gladden." A Western Doctor of Divinity insisted 
that, although he was the author, the publishers had 
never paid him. A high-school pupil of Worcester, 
Massachusetts, celebrated her sixteenth birthday 
by writing to express surprise that the heroine's 
name — Alice Belding — was hers also, and she 
begged the author to give pleasure to her and many 
friends — "among whom are my teachers " — by tell- 
ing her whether he had known her father — " a busi- 
ness man of an extensive acquaintance." 

From Kansas came the criticism of a local blue- 
stocking, who felt it her duty to point out to "Dear 
Madam" lapses in taste or rhetoric, and concluded: 
" I am a little acid, perhaps, because you are success- 
ful, while, so far, I am not. So be it, but I will say 
that my whole expectation will be more than grati- 
fied if I ever write anything that receives half the fa- 
vors yours has done." As was to be expected, a New 
York lady in East 27th Street made a truly metro- 
politan proposal, without evasion. "Mr. Hay," she 
writes, "I understand that you repudiate the pa- 
rentage of that clever and brilliant story 'The Bread- 
winners.' As it is now a foundling thrown upon the 



"THE BREAD-WINNERS" ii 

world without father or mother, would you object 
to my adopting it as my own child and giving it my 
name? If }'0U are willing to resign all rights and 
title to it, I shall be most proud to give it a perma- 
nent home and standing." 

But anonymity has its annoyance as well as its 
humor. A literary item went the rounds of the papers 
purporting to give an interview with Mr. Roswell 
Smith, the President of the Century Company, who 
was thus quoted: "By the way, that story was re- 
jected by the Atlantic before it was brought to us. 
Then we rejected it — probably for the same reason. 
But in returning it, our editors gave the author the 
result of their critical judgment as to desired modi- 
fications, and he was given to understand that we 
would take it if he should see fit to conform. He 
did so. Without those changes we should have been 
compelled to reject it — any firm would." 

These false statements nettled Hay, but he made 
no public denial. In a private note to Mr. Smith, he 
poured his grievance into friendly ears. 

"I have seen this ... in several papers. It 
comes, of course, not from you, but from Aldrich. 
You know, perhaps, that Howells read the book and 
tried to get it for the Atlantic. Aldrich offered a 
higher price for it than the Century paid — but 
wanted my name with it. He only saw two chapters 



12 JOHN HAY 

of it. After It began to be printed his restless vanity 
induced him to say he had refused it — and when 
people told him he had made a mistake, he [pre- 
tended] that it had been essentially changed since 
he read it. The fact is there were never any changes, 
of any consequence, made in it. It was printed ex- 
actly as first written — with the exception of 5 or 
6 lines — which were added. Not a single page was 
struck out, though two or three phrases were omit- 
ted at Mr. G[ilder]'s request, in the magazine and 
restored in the book. . . ." ^ 

Mr. Smith at once exonerated Mr. Aldrich and 
shifted the blame to himself, saying that he had 
given a reporter named Crofut an interview, in 
which, when printed, colorless suggestions of his ap- 
peared as downright statements. 

The satisfactions of success, however, far out- 
weighed these vexations. The book had not been 
long in print before Mr. Gilder wrote that the Cen- 
tury would welcome another novel or a sheaf of short 
stories. "It is curious to see," he wrote, "how 
many people are offering us 'anonymous' novels. 
What more likely than that the Century should come 
out with a new anonymous * novel ' or ' story? ' If it 
were not said to be 'by' the author of the B.W., 

1 As Roswell's Smith's letter is dated November 5, 1884, Hay's 
was probably written a day or two earlier. 



"THE BREAD-WINNERS" 13 

people would be off the scent, for no one would sup- 
pose we would miss such a good 'announcement.' 
Or a noni de guerre might be taken — perhaps a 
feminine one." (March 10, 1884.) 

Hay probably smiled at the suggestion that he 
should disguise himself in a woman's petticoat; but 
henceforth he permitted himself no further literary 
digressions until the Lincoln History should be com- 
pleted. The English read "The Bread- Winners " 
with enthusiasm, and their critics gave it unusual 
praise.^ It was brought out in French, serially and 
in book form, under the title "Le Bien d'Autrui." 
Tauchnitz lost no time in reprinting it; there were 
translations into German and other foreign lan- 
guages, besides various replies to it, one of which, 
"The Money-Makers,"^ achieved notoriety. 

' The Saturday Review of February 2, 1884, sums up its long 
favorable notice in these terms: "The book is not without faults, 
frequent and evident enough. The basement is too big for the roof 
for one thing; the promise of the earlier chapters is not quite ful- 
filled; there are rankness and crudity; there are many signs of 
inexperience as a novelist; for, although the anonymous author 
is beyond question a writer of experience, he is obviously enough 
a novice as a novelist. But, after making all deductions, there re- 
mains a substantial balance in his favour. The Bread-Winners is 
emphatically a book to be read. It is a very strong story, but its 
brutal force has no flavour of the muscular paganism of Ouida and 
her fellows; it is rather the reaction of a highly-cultivated gentle- 
man familiar with camps and courts, and tired of the prettinesses 
and pettinesses of most modern fiction." Professor Brander Mat- 
thews tells me that he wrote the review, which accounts for the 
hints that the reviewer suspected who the author was. 

' By Henry F. Keenan. 



14 JOHN HAY 

Read today, "The Bread-Winners" still holds its 
rank among remarkable novels. The skill with which 
typical persons in various social classes are brought 
upon the scene and the consistency with which each 
moves forward to his catastrophe, are as evident as 
is the author's success in causing the several plots to 
converge on the central situation. The men and 
women are clearly individualized; much of the con- 
versation flashes; and the atmosphere is fittingly 
sultry and oppressive, as before an electrical storm. 
But more important than the love story which runs 
through it, is the sociological drama. You become 
almost too absorbed in the issue of the struggle be- 
tween Labor and Capital to care whether Farnham 
and Alice marry or not. 

That indicates Hay's skill as an advocate. Con- 
vinced himself, he argues convincingly that the 
right lies nearly all on one side. He does not deny 
that Capital has its faults; he paints individual Capi- 
talists in dark colors : but he instills into you the be- 
lief that "honest" Labor has nothing to complain 
of; that socialistic and anarchistic panaceas, instead 
of curing, would poison Society; and that those per- 
sons who engineer a social war are either actual or 
potential criminals, having the gullible masses for their 
dupes. The moral is obvious — Society must protect 
itself against the faction which plots its destruction. 



"THE BREAD-WINNERS" 15 

Remembering the date when "The Bread-Win- 
ners" was written, we must regard it as the first 
important polemic in American fiction in defense of 
Property. But to-day, even conservatives have 
moved beyond Hay's outposts. If the book does not 
belong in the little group of other social polemics, 
like Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and Victor 
Hugo's "Les Mis^rables," it is because Mrs. Stowe 
and Hugo spoke to free the downtrodden from mis- 
ery and injustice, whereas Hay pleads in behalf of 
preserving the rights of the fortunate in the battle 
of life. His motive is as honorable as theirs — for 
he aims at saving civilization by saving the law- 
and-order classes on which civilization rests — but 
it lacks the emotional appeal. 



V 



CHAPTER XVIII 

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 

ERY soon after they reached the White House 
in 1 86 1, Nicolay and Hay began to collect 
memorabilia for a possible history of Lincoln's ad- 
ministration. They perceived its epochal signifi- 
cance; they divined his singular greatness. Nicolay 
was the more systematic gatherer, but Hay's Jour- 
nals, which he kept only too casually, stored up much 
good grist. After Lincoln's death, the secretaries 
felt that, sooner or later, they ought to tell to pos- 
terity their story of their martyred chief; fortu- 
nately, they could not find a responsive publisher, 
when Hay, on his return from Paris, made inquiries 
in New York. That would have been premature, 
because many essential documents were then out of 
reach. 

The largest body of material, indispensable in 
every respect, belonged to the President's son, Mr. 
Robert T. Lincoln ; and in due time he put it at their 
disposal, with the proviso that, before publishing, 
they should submit their work to him. The earliest 
record that has come to hand is a letter dated March 
3, 1874, in which Nicolay reports to Mr. Lincoln 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 17 

that he is examining the Lincoln manuscripts. The 
following year, Hay having resigned from the Trib- 
une and settled in Cleveland, the collaborators 
began in earnest. 

" My dear Hay," Nicolay writes on November 16, 
1875, "I send you to-day by express the first instal- 
ment of material." 

Being Marshal of the United States Supreme 
Court from 1872 to 1887, Nicolay resided in Wash- 
ington, where he was near the official archives. His 
library was the central storehouse of material ; but 
Hay collected also, and, as the work went on, he 
bought many manuscripts and documents and rare 
books for their joint use. Nicolay blocked out the 
schedule of chapters, which they then discussed to- 
gether, and, after coming to a decision, each chose 
the topics he preferred. As fast as these were written, 
they passed to the other partner, for criticism, trim- 
ming, verification, and additions. 

After a while, when publishers learned that this 
work was in progress, they made offers for the copy- 
right; but Nicolay and Hay declined them all until 
they saw the end in sight. Finally, in November, 
1885, they signed a contract with the Century Com- 
pany, selling to it the serial rights in the history. 
The price agreed upon — fifty thousand dollars — 
was the largest any American magazine had paid. 



i8 JOHN HAY 

Their first installment appeared in the Century for 
November, 1886; their last, in May, 1890. 

On this frame of bare facts, let us now weave 
extracts from Hay's letters, which will disclose their 
methods of composition, the apportionment of sub- 
jects and, very often, the serious handicap of ill- 
health against which both of them, but more espe- 
cially Hay, labored. 

To J, G. Nicolay 

514 Euclid Avenue, 
Cleveland, O., Dec. 4 [1875?]. 

I am established here comfortably in winter quar- 
ters. I have received your box, and as soon as a 
little preliminary business is over and Mr. Stone 
has started for San Francisco or thereabouts, I shall 
go seriously to work upon it. I hope to be able to 
make considerable progress by next spring. . . . 

Have I told you that Colfax sent me a copy of his 
letter to Arnold giving his last interview? 

I read Count de Paris' last chapter yesterday and 
got a big disgust. It is a sincere and stupid attack 
on Lincoln in McClellan's interest. I had an angry 
talk of ten minutes with Lord Houghton about it 
in New York. He began it and I had to intimate to 
His Lordship that he was talking too much ... on 
insufficient information. 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 19 

Cleveland, O., June 23, 1876. 

I have been dreading and postponing for some 
time the writing of this letter. I hate to tell bad 
news — and my news is bad. I went industriously 
to work last winter. Got a fine start on my mate- 
rial and commenced putting it in shape. I had even 
written a few pages when I was struck with partial 
blindness. I have had numerous doctors at me al- 
most ever since, but the trouble is not yet over. 
During the last month my general health has been 
completely restored, and I think I see the case more 
clearly than before and hope by taking it easy this 
summer to be well next fall. That is the whole 
story, and I have never had the heart to write it 
before. I write now because I am greatly encour- 
aged and begin to think I shall soon be all right 
again. 

Cleveland, O., August 9, 1877. 

I have hardly dared to write to you for some little 
time for fear of making illusory promises; but I 
think I can say now that I am started and can keep 
at work. If nothing happens adversely, we can have 
Lincoln inaugurated by the 4th of March, 1878. I 
have been very hard at work for a month or so, and 
sat down some weeks ago to writing. I have written 



20 JOHN HAY 

from nine to ten thousand words (that is the only 
definite way of stating it) and have brought up to 
1830. I do not anticipate any bad delays unless my 
health should give way again. My old foe, the head- 
ache, is bang in wait for me, but I hope to get free. I 
write with great labor and difficulty — my imagina- 
tion is all gone — a good riddance. I shall never 
write easily and fluently again. . . . 

To Robert T. Lincoln 

506 Euclid Avenue, 
Cleveland, O., February 14, 1878. 

My dear Robert : — 

I have been spending a fortnight in Washington 
with Nicolay and am very much gratified at the 
work he has done in arranging your papers and in 
preparing for our history. Besides putting the MS. in 
admirable order, he has made a first-rate beginning 
at the chapters allotted to him. I also have had 
pretty good luck during the last season and we now 
consider the big job well begun. It will take a long 
time yet, but we are In no hurry and I presume you 
are not. We have made such arrangements that in 
case either of Nicolay's death or mine your property 
is safe and the work as far as done is available for the 
survivor. 

On the way home I heard of the death of our old 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 21 

friend Mr. Welles.^ It is of great importance to us 
that we should get access to his diary and other pa- 
pers. I know how much Edgar thinks of you, and 
he probably knows the interest which his father took 
in our work. As soon as you think proper I would like 
to have you suggest to Edgar that he should put the 
diary in our hands; we should, of course, pledge our- 
selves to regard it confidentially until our history is 
published, and even then to be guided by his wishes 
in regard to what should be used. I wish I could see 
you here sometime. Could you not run down for a 
few days. We could show you and Mrs. Lincoln a 
pretty town and plenty of sleigh-riding, although in 
other amusements we are rather deficient. 

Yours faithfully. 

I saw the President in Washington. The only 
thing of any importance he talked about was you. 
You evidently made a great impression on His Ex- 
cellency. 

To J. G. Nicolay 

Cleveland, O., February 27, 1878. 

I have devoted a day or two to looking over my 
notebooks, and am prepared to sit down on you 
with some force. I have a large amount of valuable 

^ Gideon Welles, Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy. Edgar, his 
son, died in 191 5. 



22 JOHN HAY 

notes — made on the spot, the extent of and value 
of which I had quite forgotten. They are weak in 
1 86 1, not very good in '62 except in respect to 
Second Bull Run; but quite full and valuable for '63 
and '64. They are not in good shape. I do not know 
but that I may try to have them copied by type- 
writer. . . . 

Do you understand Mr. Welles' s reference to a 
''Memorandum," written by Lincoln in 1864 in an- 
ticipation of defeat, in [the] Atlantic? ^ I have the 
original Memorandum ; he gave it to me, in the pres- 
ence of the Cabinet, after his reelection. I have the 
whole occurrence in my notebook. As I was leaving 
the room with it, Judge Bates asked me for a copy. 
I cussed silently — then Welles asked for one, and 
then everybody. Charlie Penfield made the copies, 
and I have been dreading their reappearance, and 
felt a little relieved that our old friend had finished 
his work without an allusion to this matter — when, 
lo! in the very last article he refers to it. If he has 
not left other articles in MS. we are still safe; but 
if he has, he will be sure to copy this precious docu- 
ment in full in the next one. . . . 

* The article by Gideon Welles to which Hay refers appeared in 
the Atlantic Monthly for March, 1878, and was entitled "The 
Opposition to Lincoln in 1864." Lincoln's "self-denying pledge" 
is given above, vol. I, pp. 216-17. 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 23 

Cleveland, O., Jan. 20, 1879. 

I have had good luck for a week or so, and have 
made considerable progress. I have almost got to the 
Shields duel time. Have you any original matter not 
included in the Lamon book? ... I wish I could see 
you for a week in regard to two or three matters — 
but I dread journeys more than I can tell you. I get 
along well enough from day to day, but a change 
upsets me and gives me colds and insomnia. 

Where does your work begin — that is where is 
my work to join yours, quoad Lincoln? How far am 
I to write his biography before reaching your his- 
tory of the g-r-r-eat conflict? Write as soon as you 
get this. Send me all the Shields' stuff you have, and 
any suggestions you want to make about Lincoln's 
marriage, the use of the Speed letters, etc. ... If I 
keep my health, I expect to work steadily on this 
business henceforward. 

Interruptions besides those due to ill-health kept 
retarding his progress: chief of these being his ser- 
vice under Mr. Evarts in the State Department. 

Cleveland, O., March 30, 1879. 

I saw to-day in the Graphic (?) a paragraph by T. 
on the authority of Frank Mason of Cleveland, that 
I alone had finished the first volume of our History. 



24 JOHN HAY 

I can't think Mason could have made such a mis- 
take. T. must have misunderstood him. Both the 
papers here have tried to interview me on the work. 
I requested them to say nothing, as we were not 
ready for any announcement; and they compHed 
with my request. But it is useless to try to stop up 
all the possible leaks, and some of these times we 
will have to let something be said, — in the Tribune, 
I should say, — so that the truth may be known. 
Think of it a little, and when I see you, give me your 
views. When am I to see you? It looks now as if I 
could not get to Washington this spring. My poor 
mother has had a dreadful accident, breaking her 
thigh bone at the hip. I have been in Warsaw for 
three weeks, hardly expecting her to live from one 
day to another — but last week she began to rally 
and now we have strong hopes of her recovery. 

... I was getting along splendidly when this dis- 
aster happened. It throws me out, and I shall re- 
quire some time to get in running order again. I have 
written now, in all, over 50,000 words. . . . 

To R. T. Lincoln 

Cleveland, 0., January 27, 1884. 

Dear Bob: — 

Nicolay tells me he has laid before you or is about 
to do so, the first volumes of our history, containing 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 25 

the chapters in which I have described the first forty 
years of your father's life. 

I need not tell you that every line has been writ- 
ten in a spirit of reverence and regard. Still you may 
find here and there words or sentences which do not 
suit you. I write now to request that you will read 
with a pencil in your hand and strike out everything 
to which you object. I will adopt your view in all 
cases, whether I agree with it or not, but I cannot 
help hoping you will find nothing objectionable. I 
do not think t have told you we have a new boy- 
baby,^ born Christmas time. . . . 

Faithfully yours. 

By 1885 the collaborators had so far mastered 
their material, that they were already thinking of 
publication. Hay's correspondence of this year lets 
us see the work in the very process of becoming. 

To J. G. Nicolay 

Cleveland, O., April 13, 1885. 
I have got to the 8th of March, 1862. What pro- 
vision, in the schedule, has been made for the fight 
of the Merrimack and Monitor? Shall I do that? If 
so, all the material necessary is in the Century arti- 
cles,'^ I suppose. 

^ Clarence Leonard Hay. 

2 The Century Magazine had been publishing a valuable series 
of articles on the Civil War. 



26 JOHN HAY 

I am kept riled constantly by the lies of McClellan, 
Joinville, and Paris. They have built up an impu- 
dent fiction which I fear the plain truth will never 
destroy. And the Century is going to give McC. the 
vast influence of its million readers. 

Cleveland, O., April 22, 1885. 

I have been going over your schedule with some 
care in connection with the work I am doing and 
I can't help seeing a radical difference of view be- 
tween us as to the extent of treatment to be given 
to each topic. For instance: You indicate as separate 
chapters, The President's War Council. — Stanton. 
— President's War Order. — President's Plan. — 
McClellan's Fiasco. 

I have put all these into one chapter! to be called, 
say, "Plans of Campaign." 

Again you have "Manassas Evacuated" and "To 
the Peninsula." I shall make one short chapter of 
both. My idea of the McC. business was something 
like this: — 

1 . Army of Potomac. McC. Commander in Chief. 

2. Plans of Campaign. 

3. Evacuation of Manassas. Ofif for Peninsula. 

4. Yorktown. 

5. Chickahominy and Jackson's Raid. 

6. The Change of Base. 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 27 

7. Harrison's Landing. 

8. Pope and Porter. 

9. Antietam. 

10. After Antietam — Burnside. 
You make 15 chapters of the above. 

Now there is certainly matter enough to make 15 
or 50 chapters of it — but I judge from my own wear- 
iness of the subject that no Hving man will read more 
than I am writing. We will be happy if they read as 
much. 

I saw young Harper in New York. They want the 
book, say they count on it. I put them off for the 
present. 

Cleveland, Jan. 17. [No year.] 

Your package of doc's is received and I regard it 
with dread and terror — like a magician contem- 
plating a demon that he has raised and cannot lay. 
I will tiy to tackle it next week. I don't know where 
or how to begin — but will sail in anyhow and we 
will "put a head on it" when we come together. It 
looks to me awfully full for one chapter — but it 
must be squeezed in. If we give every incident a 
chapter we will have a hundred volumes. 

The two preceding letters lead us to infer that 
there was a recurring need of compromise between 
Nicolay's desire for thoroughness and Hay's artistic 



28 JOHN HAY 

craving for proportion. The next note broaches the 
Century project. 

Cleveland, O., June i6, 1885. 
. . . The offer of the Century is certainly very tempt- 
ing. Of course we could cut down a good deal and 
present what would be a continuous narrative in 
about half the space we have taken for our book. It 
is not to be hastily refused — and yet, how would we 
feel if tied up to it? 

Cleveland, O., July 6, 1885. 

I have finished Jackson's raid and shall commence 
on Seven Days' Fight this week. 

Good luck and good health at Bethel. I do not be- 
lieve Gilder will want the stuff for his magazine. It 
is not adapted for that. There is too much truth in 
it. 

I have now several chapters — call it half a vol- 
ume to sound liberal — which you can flourish be- 
fore him as a reserve. 

If I can keep well, and I am not very much en- 
couraged about it — I can write a volume in a year. 

Cleveland, 0., Aug. 20, 1885. 

Gilder wrote to me some time ago saying he 
wanted to see us both. ... I have to go to New York 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 29 

again in the first half of October and we had better 
have our talk then. . . . 

I have just finished Comte de Paris' 6th volume. 
It is all about Gettysburg and Mine Run. In spite 
of my prejudice against him — and his outrageous 
unfairness to Lincoln — it Is a splendid piece of 
work. He cares no more for time than McClellan 
himself. He goes plodding peacefully along and tells 
everything. His chapters average 150 pages. He 
makes me ashamed of my feverish anxiety to boil 
down and condense — but when your job is to get 
the universe into 8 volumes, you must not make 
two bites of an atom. 

I am "complaining," but I do not know that I am 
any worse when I work than when I Idle. I feel woe 
is me! if I write not my stint daily. 

The next note is penciled on the back of a letter 
from a Philadelphia publisher, who promises a large 
sale for the book, if they will give It to him. 

July I8[?], 1885. 

"Children cry for It." ... I am working like a 
Turk. I have done my 7 Days' Battle and Harrison's 
Landing since I last wrote you. I am impelled by a 
fiend of hurry who yells In my ear, "Finish! finish! 
and get It off your stomach!" If I could keep my 



30 JOHN HAY 

present pace without breaking down we should be 
through easily in two years. I would like to show 
you what I am doing — that you may see whether 
it is as bad as it is rapid. But the rapidity is only in 
the writing. The study has taken years. 

Now comes the most important letter of the 
series: in it Hay gives his creed as an historian. 

Cleveland, O., Aug. lo, 1885. 

I have just received your letters of the 7th and 
8th. I herewith return the Gilder correspondence. 
There will be no difficulty whatever in beginning the 
series — if ever — next fall [1886]. The only con- 
tingency in which we should not be able to keep up 
would be death. If we live we can do it. 

The reason why I wanted you to criticize the 
chapter with the greatest severity is this — I dic- 
tated every word of it. I found myself breaking 
down with the nervous fatigue of writing and copy- 
ing. I therefore hired a stenographer. ... I always 
thought I could not dictate — but I found the only 
thing was to take time and not hurry, to go back — 
erase, start fresh, etc., just as if I was writing — and 
not much faster. It is a great gain. . . . After he 
writes out the notes I go all over them again with 
great care. 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 31 

As to your criticisms, you can put in all the 
things you think lacking, or make a note, and I 
will do it next fall, strike out or reduce to footnotes 
whatever you think superfluous. Do this without 
hesitation and I will do the same with you. An 
outside judgment on these points is almost sure to 
be right. 

As to my tone towards Porter and McClellan — 
that is an important matter. I have toiled and la- 
bored through ten chapters over him [McC.]. I think 
I have left the impression of his mutinous imbecility, 
and I have done it in a perfectly courteous manner. 
Only in "Harrison's Landing" have I used a single 
injurious adjective. It is of the utmost moment that 
we should seem fair to him, while we are destroying 
him. The Porter ^ business is a part of this. Porter 
was the m.ost magnificent soldier in the Army of the 
Potomac, ruined by his devotion to McClellan. We 
have this to consider. We are all alone in condemn- 
ing him. I don't count John Logan as company for 
historians. Even Palfrey, who takes the hide off Mc- 
Clellan, speaks of "Porter's perfect vindication at 
the hands of the Board." A big majority of the 
American people believe him innocent: all the Demo- 
crats, all the Mugwumps, which means all the liter- 

^ General Fitz-John Porter, court-martialed after the Second 
Battle of Bull Run; subsequently exonerated. 



32 JOHN HAY 

ary folks, all the Southerners, and half the Republi- 
cans of the North. We believe him guilty; but I 
don't think we need go further than say so dispas- 
sionately. A single word of invective, I think, would 
be injurious to us, rather than to him. It would be 
taken to show that we were still in the gall and bit- 
terness of twenty years ago. 

Gilder was evidently horrified at your saying that 
Lee ought to be shot : a simple truth of law and equity. 
I find, after a careful reading of a dozen biographies 
and all his own reports, that Stonewall Jackson was 
a howling crank: but it would be the greatest folly 
for me to say so. I am afraid I have come too near 
saying so, in what I have written about him. He 
is a "saint and a hero,"Gen'l Black said so in a 
speech the other day. General Black, of Illinois, 
Commissioner of Pensions. 

The war has gone by. It is twenty years ago. Our 
book is to be read by people who cannot remember 
anything about it. We must not show ourselves to 
the public in the attitude of two old dotards fighting 
over again the politics of their youth. 

I confess I learned something from the criticisms 
of your book. All the reviews acknowledged its 
merits of style, accuracy, and readableness — but 
nearly every one objected to its tone of aggressive 
Northernism. This was a surprise to me. I read it in 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 33 

MS. and thought it perfectly fair and candid — but 
I am of that age and imbued with all its prejudices. 

We must not write a stump speech in eight vols., 
8vo. 

We will not fall in with the present tone of blub- 
bering sentiment, of course. But we ought to write 
the history of those times like two everlasting angels 
who know everything, judge everything, tell the 
truth about everything, and don't care a twang of 
their harps about one side or the other. 

There will be one exception. We are Lincoln 
men all through. But in other little matters, let us 
look at men as insects and not blame the black 
beetle because he is not a grasshopper. 

Salmon P. Chase is going to be a nut to crack. 

So is Stanton. 

I am sick abed — but the Doctor thinks I am gain- 
ing on him, and will be out of his hands this week. 

"Destroy this letter," Hay adds in a postscript. 
" It would be too great a temptation to any reporter 
who should pick it up." I am aware that I may be 
accused of indiscretion in printing criticisms so frank, 
written for Nicolay's eye alone. But a biographer's 
first duty — and his last — is to Truth ; and if his 
subject cannot bear the light of truth, the biographer 
should not waste time over him. In this case, it is of 



34 JOHN HAY 

great importance that we should know in what spirit 
Nicolay and Hay wrote, because their history con- 
cerns Abraham Lincoln, and who can set a term, in 
centuries, to the longevity of Lincoln's fame? 

That the two secretaries should carry into middle 
life the supreme enthusiasm of their youth, that 
their judgments should be tinged by past prejudices, 
that they should even feel it to be a duty to show 
up delinquents who had escaped exposure during 
the war, was inevitable. "We are Lincoln men all 
through" — that fact they never dissembled; and 
with that exception their aim was "to write the his- 
tory of those times like two everlasting angels." 
How nearly they succeeded, the reader can deter- 
mine b}^ turning to their book. If he finds bias in 
it, this letter will inform him how far that bias was 
intentional, and how many times Hay, for one, in 
his endeavor to seem fair, curbed his impulse to 
speak out. 

The endlessness of their task sometimes staggered 
them. 

Cleveland, Dec. 17, [1885?] 

I find Murfreesboro can be done concisely in less 
than a chapter. Are you doing Buell's '^ Perryville^* 
Campaign? If not, I could sketch it in as an intro- 
duction to Murfreesboro and save that much space. 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 35 

We shall never get through in a million words, I fear; 
and so must seize every chance to condense. 

Mercantile Bank Building, Room 10. 
Cleveland, O., Aug. 29, 1885. 

I received the schedule this morning and have 
been studying it all day. With what subjects you 
gobbled for yourself, the Vth volume is practically 
finished. There is Mexico and Diplomacy — but 
until I have read what you have done I do not know 
how to tackle those. I had thought of doing Mexico 
and Maximilian in one — beginning with a long re- 
trospect — but I have not the material here. I can- 
not begin in the middle of the Western Campaign 
without reading your articles on the earlier incidents. 

If all the Seward and Chase material is in Warden 
I could do that. There is enough in Chase's letters 
abusing Lincoln behind his back for a quiet scorcher 
— but think of Mrs. Hoyt,^ if you please. There is 
some difficulty about the sea-coast subjects — you 
have begun them and I must first read thoroughly 
what you have done. 

I might take Grant at Washington and do the 
Wilderness — though that is a great way ahead. I 
find a good many things to talk about — condensing 
of two or three into one. 

* Chief Justice Chase's surviving daughter. 



36 JOHN HAY 

I have written Hooker and Meade. They make 
four chapters — Chancellorsville; The Invasion of 
Pennsylvania; Gettysburg (a long one); The Line 
of the Rapidan. I do not think Kilpatrick's Raid is 
worth a chapter. You could spin out a hundred 
pages of incidents, but they are all aliunde. I give 
him a ^ in the Rapidan. The same with Stoneman's 
Raid. 

You give the Gettysburg Oration a chapter. The 
Oration itself fills half-a-page. I thought of tacking 
it on to the end of the battle chapter. 

For the Grant in the Wilderness we have a lot of 
material and I think might go on without Bob Scott. 
We have Badeau and Humphrey's elaborate work 
and Grant's report: then there is Swinton and the 
Rebellion Record. 

Do you not make too much of — The Conscrip- 
tion Act; the Draft; The Riots; Lincoln-Seymour? 
I think there is a chance there for a judicious squeeze. 

I wired you to send me the MS. I will, I think, 
have another full copy made — to use for the book 
MS. in case extensive excisions are made by the 
Editor. 

Dec. 14, 1885. 

I have been toiling for a week on the Lincoln and 
the Churches chapter. I am brought to a stop for 
lack of Lincoln's own letters in the matter. If it is 



''ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 37 

perfectly convenient for you to get them out and 
send them to me, please do so. 

As soon as the installments of the History began 
to appear in the Century, the collaborators held fre- 
quent consultations, by letter or in person, with Mr. 
Gilder, the editor, or with Mr. Buel, the assistant 
editor. Generous though the Century was in allot- 
ting space, it could not undertake to print more 
than a third of the huge work. Hence, the need of 
selecting, condensing and trimming, over which the 
authors and the editors frequently disagreed, but not 
to the point of a serious break. 

Three citations may interest readers who like to 
dissect an author's diction. 

To R. W. Gilder 

Cleveland, O., Oct. 22, 1886. 
On galley 39 you will find a phrase, ''mopped the 
floor with him." When I first heard it, years ago, it 
seemed very racy. Since then it has got to be a regu- 
lar bit of newspaper slang. If it has grown banal to 
your ear, strike it out. 

To J. G. Nicolay 

Cleveland, O., May 26, (No year.) 
You use continually a form of speech like this — 
"to immediately begin," "to promptly choose," 



38 JOHN HAY 

etc. I think this is condemned by all the authorities. 
Lincoln used it, I know, but I don't think it wise for 
us to. I have marked a few instances, out of many 
in this number. 

To Henry Adams 

Manitou, Colorado, July 14, 1888. 

... I take note of your criticisms. I have not 
the magazine in reach, and do not remember wherein 
I have sinned. I agree with you about the historical 
present, and would have sworn I never used it, — 
except possibly of writing. Do you bar that? May 
I not say, "Pliny observes," or "McClellan writes 
under the date of — "? I share your detestation of 
"now." In fact, I consider it horribly obscene — 
but I may sometimes have fallen into that crime. 

Hay himself, like many Southerners and West- 
erners, including Lincoln and Lanier, confused " will " 
and " shall " : but benevolent proof-readers kept these 
slips out of his printed books. 

To R. W. Gilder 

Cleveland, O., April 25, 1887. 

The only question is whether you want the Life 
to run three years or four. If the former, you must 
take heroic measures. Leaving out a chapter here 
and there, or retrenching an adjective, will do no 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 39 

good. You must cut great chunks of topics out. For 
instance, Nicolay says if you want to leave out the 
history of the opening of the RebelHon, there are 
twenty-six chapters between the election and the 
inauguration of Lincoln which can be left out, and 
only the intelligent reader, if such a being exists, 
will miss them. Then there are in all some dozen 
long chapters of the war in the West, absolutely es- 
sential in the history, which can be cut down to a 
paragraph in the Magazine. But it ought to be 
settled beforehand whether or not you intend to 
make these serious abridgments. Neither Nicolay 
nor I can write the work over again for the purpose 
of saving a half chapter, here and there. You have 
his full consent, and mine, to leave out as much as 
you like, but we cannot shorten up a chapter to any 
extent by rewriting. 

This is in the nature of a caveat. If you hereafter 
tell us the infernal thing is too long, we will sweetly 
answer, "I told you so." 

To J. G. Nicolay 
Manitou Springs, Colo., July 22, 1888. 

I received your letter of the i6th covering Gild- 
er's of the 1 2th, with proofs, last evening. I gave 
the night to them and mailed them back to him this 
morning. I also wired him to cut as he liked. You 



40 JOHN HAY 

may do with him as you choose about your military 
chapters, but, for my part, I am perfectly willing to 
have him cut out every military chapter I have writ- 
ten. I am sick of the subject, and I fancy the public 
is. I will not, however, rewrite the book and boil 
them down. Let him leave them all out and settle 
the matter with his readers. 

159 Water St., Room 8, 
Cleveland, O., Sept. 19, 1888. 

I see the Century folks have whacked about all 
the life out of the November instalment. I have tele- 
graphed my approval — as they requested — not 
because I think they have improved it, but because 
I approve every excision, large or small, that brings 
us nearer the end. My complaint is that they are 
printing too much. They will never get through, at 
this rate, in the time contemplated. I think I shall 
suggest that they leave out Vicksburg and Gettys- 
burg and the Wilderness campaign in toto, on the 
ground that Lincoln did not personally direct those 
campaigns. As it is, they cut out about every third 
paragraph, destroying the significance of a chapter 
without gaining materially in space. The Novem- 
ber instalment is, you see, only 18 pages. 

I avoid calling there when I go to New York, as 
our interviews are invariably disagreeable. 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 41 

I hope your summer has profited you more than 
mine has me. I have lost 10 pounds since June. I 
want to get done with this work. 

Evidently, Hay was run down, and the foreor- 
dained conflict between author and editor irritated 
him. An author today who complained that a maga- 
zine editor was printing only eighteen pages of one 
article in a series of forty, would have to look far 
for sympathy. But when the rasping was over, it 
left no scars. He and Gilder remained fast friends 
through life. 

To J. G. Nicolay 

Knickerbocker Club, N.Y., 
April 15, 1889. 

I told Gilder that he could cut and slash all he 
liked, provided we were to do nothing in the way of 
rewriting. He expressed his thanks for the permis- 
sion, but thought he would not need to avail himself 
of it. They are all very cheery in the office about it. 

I saw D. [Charles A. Dana?] this morning. He 
was quite curious about the process of collaboration, 
— said he had read it all thus far and could see no 
difference in manner or style. There is a singular 
proof of the nullity of criticism — coming as it does 
from one of the first critics of the age. I gave him no 



42 JOHN HAY 

satisfaction, but told him I thought no one would 
be able to say where one left off and the other 
began. 

Whitman's lecture ^ yesterday was quite interest- 
ing as to audience and accessories. The lecture it- 
self is about all in print, — nothing whatever new. 
The Tribune this morning, speaking of the lecture, 
calls Lincoln ''this country's greatest President" — 
without qualification. 

. . . Let me make one suggestion. In preparing for 
the chapters yet to be written, prepare — as far as 
possible — so that either of us can do the mere writ- 
ing, when the time comes, without having to go all 
over the subject again. If I come back well next fall, 
I may be able, after finishing those I have allotted 
myself, to turn in and lend a hand to yours, if you 
find it then necessary to spare yourself. In that case 
it would be much easier to deal with a few envelopes 
than with a library. 

That summer the Hays spent in England. Al- 
though Hay came back refreshed, he felt more and 
more the burden of the History, and the feverish 
desire, common to the nerve-harried, to be through 
with it, grew on him. 

* Several times in his last years Walt Whitman gave his Lin- 
coln lecture on the anniversary of the assassination. 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 43 

To Henry Adams 

London, August 4, 1889. 

... I am as anxious to get home and get through 
as ever I was to take my quinine when I was young, 
and have done. They send me an occasional column 
of abuse from some friend of McClellan or Chase 
and I can only wonder at the merciful Providence 
which keeps my critics away from the weak joints 
in my armor. Laws-a-mercy ! If I had the criticising 
of that book, what a skinning I could give it! I can't 
amend it, but I could ereinter it — de la belle maniere. 
There is nothing left but to read proof and get it 
printed, which will take six months, — forgotten, 
which may take six weeks. 

From Cleveland, on his return, Hay writes to Mr. 
Adams: "The Lincoln peters out in January, and 
then there only remains the revision and proof- 
reading of the latter half of the impregnable volumes. 
You will get through first because you are U7ius 
sed leo.'' ^ 

The next letters, to Mr. Lincoln, explain them- 
selves. 

* Mr. Adams was on the point of completing his American his- 
tory. 



44 JOHN HAY 

To R. T. Lincoln 

Washington, March 5, 1888. 

Thank you for the corrections — all of which I 
have of course adopted. The MS. of all the articles 
goes to the publisher to-day. I was sorry to bother 
you, but I thought it best in every way to consult 
you — and it was. 

I am much gratified at what you tell me about Mr. 
Lowell; he has after all said the best things about 
your father — but that's what a poet is for.^ 

We get thus far very little abuse and most of that 
is clearly motives. 

Washington, D.C, April 12, 1888. 

I own a few of your father's MS. which he gave 
me from time to time. As long as you and I live I 
take it for granted that you will not suspect me of 
boning them. But to guard against casualties here- 
after, I have asked Nicolay to write you a line 
saying that I have never had in my possession or 
custody any of the papers which you entrusted to 
him. 

I have handed over to Nicolay to be placed among 
your papers some of those which your father gave 
me. The rest, which are few in number, are very 
^ James Russell Lowell, in his "Commemoration Ode." 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 45 

precious to me, I shall try to make an heirloom in my 
family as long as one of my blood exists with money 
enough to buy a breakfast. 

We are nearly at the end of our life-long task and 
I hope you will think your father's fame has not 
suffered any wrong at our hands. 

Washington, D.C, Dec. 22, 1889. 

It has occurred to me that you might like to get 
to the end of the Magazine publication of our book, 
without waiting a month, so I send you this last 
instalment. They are putting the book into type as 
fast as we can revise and read the proof, but it is an 
enormous job, and will require several months to 
complete it. Think of reading, carefully and criti- 
cally (stopping every five minutes to make sure of 
a fact or a situation), five thousand pages, four 
times over! This we have to do, after the book is 
finished. 

The publishers think best to have the whole book 
ready before they begin to publish — they will then 
put out the volumes rather rapidly, two at a time. 
There will be ten volumes. It will be dedicated to 
you. 

Now, in very fact, the fifteen-year-long task was 
drawing to a close. 



46 JOHN HAY 

To W. D. Howells 

Washington, Jan. 22, 1890. 

. . . And how are you? I have worked so hke a 
dray-horse of late that I have seen nothing, heard 
nothing, read nothing; our proof-reading is half 
over. You know nothing about proof-reading, with 
you it is the perusal of a charming author, — no 
more; — with us it is reading an old story, musty 
and dry, and jumping up every instant to consult 
volumes still mustier, to see if we have volume and 
page right in the margin, — and the dull story right 
in the text. I am aweary of it. . . . 

Jan. 23, 1890. 

I have just read your study on Lincoln, and will 
not wait a moment even to see Nicolay , before thank- 
ing you. I should be less than human if I were not 
pleased with such generous praise from such an au- 
thority ; but I am delighted more than I can tell you 
in view of the fact that you selected for approval 
precisely those features of the work in which, in 
our opinion, its success or failure is involved. I 
felt that we had not altogether wasted our time 
when I read what you say about our sacrifice to 
our task, about Lincoln's treatment of McClellan 
and his Cabinet ... I like also what you say about 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 47 

Lincoln's use of words, and wish I had said it 
myself. 

The work, big as it is, is really a tour de force of 
compression. In nine cases out of ten the people who 
criticize it blame us for having treated too briefly 
this, that, or the other subject, in which they are 
specially interested. 

On March 18, 1890, Hay writes from Washington 
to Mr. Buel, in characteristic phrase, which seems 
to indicate a recovery of spirits at the approach of 
freedom: "We have been going on gaily for a week, 
and I hope we can keep it up. I shall charge my bill 
for quinine to you, if you keep me here till the ma- 
laria season. None but cats and congressmen can 
stand our August sunshine." 

To R. W. Gilder 

Washington, June 19, 1890, 

I have at last yielded to your furious Importunity 
and have written an article on ''Life at the White 
House in Lincoln's Time." ^ When will you want it? 
Nicolay thinks he will write one or two, but cannot 
promise them immediately. 

I reserve the privilege of using the article as I 
please in future, and expect, of course, a monstrous 

* Printed in the Century for November, 1890, vol. XLi, pp. 33-37. 



48 JOHN HAY 

honorarium for it — enough to put the Magazine 
into the hands of a receiver. 

This final note to Nicolay shows the ingenuity on 
which an author must sometimes rely in order to 
meet the printer's exigence. 

To J. G. Nicolay 

Knickerbocker Club, 
319 Fifth Ave., July 8 [1890]. 

They have just put the last page in my hands, 
twenty minutes before my train starts for Cleve- 
land. There seem to be only two things to do: 
shorten p. 348 two words and lengthen the last 
page a line or two. P. 348 can be shortened by strik- 
ing out "calmer nor" in the first line. 

I can't on the spur of the moment invent a sen- 
tence or two to lengthen the last page. I will see what 
I can do when I get to Cleveland. 

I could think of no way to put in the fact of your 
absence from the deathbed, after the note was sup- 
pressed, other than putting it into the text as you 
did — but it looks very awkward there — as if 
dragged in by the ears. 

This hurry-scurry at the end is disgusting. I wish 
I could have stayed through — but I thought I had 
made allowance enough, in waiting till the 7th. 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 49 

It is frightfully hot to-day and I am sick — been 
taking medicine all day to hold me together so as to 
get on the train. 

Arrived at the station Hay telegraphed Nicolay: 
"To fix last page I can introduce on page 350 
what Sherman says: General Grant, after having 
met the ruler of [almost] every civilized country on 
earth, said Lincoln impressed him as the greatest 
intellectual force with which he had ever come in 
contact." 

The insertion was made, and so the vast under- 
taking was completed. 

The Century Company published the work in ten 
volumes that autumn, and sold 5000 sets by sub- 
scription within a short time. Since then some 1500 
more sets have found a market. Not long before his 
death in 1901 Nicolay made a one- volume abridg- 
ment, which has reached a sale of about 35,000 
copies. Remembering the world-wide publicity given 
to the installments of the History which appeared in 
the Century, it is evident that no other American 
historical work has reached so many readers in so 
short a time. 

Subsequently the authors, at Mr. Gilder's request, 
edited Lincoln's letters and speeches, which were 
published in 1894. 



50 JOHN HAY 

The "Lincoln" calls for no critical comment here. 
Nicolay and Hay very properly affixed to it the sub- 
title, "A History," for only in the broadest sense 
is it a biography. Rather is it an historical quarry 
or encyclopedia, to be judged piecemeal, chapter 
by chapter, as the builder tests each block of marble, 
and not in its entirety, as a finished edifice. Any- 
body can point out where it errs in proportion, or 
lacks charm ; or where the narrative, instead of flow- 
ing forward like a river, seems to stagnate in a lagoon 
or to lose itself in some subterranean channel; or 
where it suffers from repetition; but such censure 
would be beside the mark. The value of the "Lin- 
coln" lies in its substance, which is priceless. 

Some of its readers have thought they could sort 
Hay's chapters from Nicolay's, by the touchstone 
of style. The clues I have furnished may enlighten 
them. Certainly, Hay's characteristic style — which 
sparkles in "Castilian Days," in passages of "The 
Bread-Winners," and in the best letters in the pre- 
sent volumes — rarely peeps through in the pages of 
the "Lincoln," where he and Nicolay seem to aim 
at being as unindividual as possible. When Hay was 
driven to dictation — the foe to durable writing — 
he further depersonalized his style. Nevertheless, 
the great work seldom falls below an excellent aver- 
age, and, upon occasion, it rises to a high level. It 



"ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A HISTORY" 51 

will outlast all other histories of the period, and be 
kept alive as long as Abraham Lincoln's name sur- 
vives. As the Lincoln Legend grows, men will turn 
again and again to the record af the two young sec- 
retaries who walked and talked with him, saw him 
most intimately as man, as statesman, and as savior 
of Democracy, and came to revere and love him as 
a hero-friend: for no other source can rival theirs. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE WASHINGTON CIRCLE 

THE reader cannot fail to have observed the 
quality of casualness in John Hay's Hfe. 
Fitted to do many things extremely well, he pur- 
sued no one thing long, except the Lincoln history. 
Even while he was toiling on that, he appeared to be 
engaged on a side-issue rather than on what would 
have been, for almost any one else, the culmination 
of his life-work. Hay was not an amateur, but he 
managed to retain the freshness and ease, and the 
freedom from pedantic insistence, which make the 
charm of the amateur spirit. Real superiority is so 
rare that Americans will only grudgingly admit that 
a man may succeed in more than one field. The dip- 
lomat must not shine as a novelist or the historian 
win a separate fame as a dialect poet : the metropoli- 
tan editor must not be confounded with the author 
of a fascinating volume of sketches of travel. Hay 
discovered all these forbidden combinations ; and as 
each achievement left him still unexhausted, he came 
to have the air of one who was waiting for an enter- 
prise to which he could devote himself heart and soul. 
Perhaps it was this which led those who saw only the 



THE WASHINGTON CIRCLE 53 

surface to surmise, that, as he advanced far into 
middle Hfe, he was by preference a man of the world, 
a dilettante, a delightful companion when the mood 
favored, but not really serious. 

No doubt, fortune helped to spread this mis- 
conception: because, after the death of Mr. Stone, 
who had always given the Hays a liberal allowance, 
Mrs. Hay's inheritance made them rich. Then it 
was that Hay and his friend Mr. Henry Adams built 
their houses side by side on Lafayette Square, em- 
ploying as architect Henry H. Richardson, foremost 
in his profession, and one of the few American archi- 
tects whose talent was so assured that he could bor- 
row from the old masters of Europe without having 
his borrowing appear mere theft, clumsy and pal- 
pable. Washington became thenceforth the home of 
the Hays. 

Friendship for Mr. Adams was the magnet which 
first drew and then held them there. He, the son of the 
consummate American Minister to England during 
the Civil War, was born in the same year as Hay, and 
represented in his derivation the essence of old Bos- 
ton, — of those vigorous, blunt, hard-headed, fear- 
less and far-sighted men who led the colony of Mas- 
sachusetts into the Revolution, and then shared with 
Virginia in leading the Republic. His grandfather 
and great-grandfather were Presidents of the United 



54 JOHN HAY 

States. He himself had gone through Harvard Col- 
lege; had served his father as secretary in London; 
had known all sorts of English society — including 
the best ; had taught history for seven years at Har- 
vard in a way that history had never been taught 
before in America; had edited the North American 
Review for six years ; and in 1877 had settled in Wash- 
ington, convinced, he says, that, "as far as he had 
a function in life, it was as stable-companion to 
statesmen, whether they liked it or not." 

His acquaintance with John Hay, begun many 
years before, ripened into the closest friendship. No 
other person exercised so profound an influence on 
Hay; no other kindled in him such a strong and abid- 
ing devotion. Living side by side on H Street, they 
made almost a common house. Very dissimilar in 
temperament, their tastes bound them together — 
their tastes, and their delight in each other's differ- 
ences. Mr. Adams was the more learned, the more 
systematic in reasoning, the more resolute and care- 
ful in coordinating his knowledge. Life to him was 
a cosmic exploration, and when he found himself 
baffled in reaching port, he accepted, without flinch- 
ing, but not in silence, the sentence of agnosticism. 
His autobiography passes from the plane of humor 
to that of irony, which he came to inhabit perma- 
nently. Fate, he sees, has played a sardonic trick on 



THE WASHINGTON CIRCLE 55 

him, — and on all of us, — in summoning us into 
life; but the jest becomes all the more sardonic for 
him, because he, unlike the majority, sees that it is 
a jest and nothing more. 

Whatever his ultimate convictions, however, Mr. 
Adams's tastes were too strong and too various to 
permit him to stagnate. His intellectual curiosity 
never flagged. He loved the fine arts, with a love 
controlled by careful study. He not only knew the 
contents of books, but had regard for the beauty of 
their make. As happens sometimes in the case of 
persons without special scientific training, he took 
an almost passionate interest in the large specula- 
tions of science. He attracted men of natures so dis- 
similar that their only common bond might be their 
friendship for him. 

Mrs. Adams was an admirable ally to him in mak- 
ing their house a unique place in Washington; and 
more than in Washington, for nowhere in the United 
States was there then, or has there since been, such 
a salon as theirs. Sooner or later, everybody who 
possessed real quality crossed the threshold of 1603 
H Street. There was no lionizing. Notoriety gained 
no admission. Host and hostess were fastidious, and 
only the select came to them. Mr. Adams sought no- 
body out; he regarded himself as solitary, and knew 
very well that official Washington cared nothing 



56 JOHN HAY 

for him, and little enough for the intellectual sphere 
in which he lived. 

Still, the best reached him. One by one, Richard- 
son the architect, Saint-Gaudens the sculptor, John 
La Farge and John Sargent the painters, and many 
a writer, American or foreign, found their way up 
to his library. In Washington itself a few of the offi- 
cial world became familiars — Senators Lodge and 
Cameron with their wives, and Mr. and Mrs. Theo- 
dore Roosevelt, being among them. But the two 
chosen friends were John Hay and Clarence King. 
Hay we know. Of King, Mr. Adams has written 
many noble praises: what, for instance, could be 
better than the following characterization? 

"King had everything to interest and delight 
Adams. He knew more than Adams did of art and 
poetry; he knew America, especially west of the hun- 
dredth meridian, better than anyone; he knew the 
professor by heart, and he knew the Congressman 
better than he did the professor. He knew even 
women; even the American woman; even the New 
York woman, which is saying much. Incidentally 
he knew more practical geology than was good for 
him, and saw ahead at least one generation further 
than the text-books. That he saw right was a dif- 
ferent matter. Since the beginning of time no man 
has lived who is known to have seen right; the 



THE WASHINGTON CIRCLE 57 

charm of King was that he saw what others did and 
a great deal more. His wit and humor; his bubbling 
energy which swept everyone into the current of his 
interest ; his personal charm of youth and manners ; 
his faculty of giving and taking, profusely, lavishly, 
whether in thought or in money, as though he were 
nature herself, marked him almost alone among 
Americans. He had in him something of the Greek, 
— a touch of Alcibiades or Alexander. One Clarence 
King only existed in the world." ^ 

Mr. Adams goes on to mention some of King's 
attainments, and adds: "Whatever prize he wanted 
lay ready for him, — scientific, social, literary, politi- 
cal, — and he knew how to take them in turn. With 
ordinary luck he would die at eighty the richest and 
most many-sided genius of his day. So little egois- 
tic he was that none of his friends felt envy of his 
extraordinary superiority, but rather grovelled be- 
fore it, so that women were jealous of the power he 
had over men; but women were many and Kings 
were one. The men worshiped not so much their 
friend, as the ideal American they all wanted to be. 
The women were jealous because, at heart, King 
had no faith in the American woman; he loved types 
more robust." ^ 

These two. King and Adams, were the companions 
^ Education of Henry Adams, p. 271. * Ibid., 272. 



58 JOHN HAY 

of Hay's later life. King came and went, Ariel fash- 
ion, according as his geological duties called him to or 
fro over the continent: but Hay and Mr. Adams were 
well-nigh inseparable ; and a day seldom passed when 
they did not see each other. The Adamses had no 
children, but to the young Hays and the young 
Lodges Mr. Adams was always "Uncle Henry " ; with 
the sure intuition of children they saw only his kind- 
liness, where strangers were awed by his brusque- 
ness. He and Hay took their constitutional together 
every afternoon; Hay stopped for Adams, and then 
off they went, — Hay with one arm crooked behind 
his back, — two small men, busily discussing great 
topics, or, quite as likely, the fleeting events of the 
hour. 

During the eighties, Mr. Adams was engaged on 
his History of the Jefferson and Madison Adminis- 
trations, and Hay was collaborating with Nicolay 
on the Lincoln biography ; but they both found leisure 
for social and other distractions. The Adamses, the 
Hays, and Clarence King formed an inner circle, 
which somebody named ''The Five of Hearts," and 
out of this came, in 1882, a novel entitled "Demo- 
cracy," a strikingly clever satire on Washington so- 
ciety. Its authorship was at once attributed to them, 
but one after another denied it. If it was a joint pro- 
duct no individual could monopolize the credit; and 



THE WASHINGTON CIRCLE 59 

as it seems to have been read chapter by. chapter to 
the group, and discussed by them all, it might be 
said, technically, to be a composite. Clarence King is 
still commonly regarded as its author; and there are 
many supporters of Hay; but I believe that only 
Mr. Adams possessed the substance, and style, and 
the gift of Voltairean raillery which distinguish it. 

At the end of 1885, the sudden death of Mrs. 
Adams occurred while the Hays and King were ab- 
sent from Washington. Hay telegraphed at once; 
he was too late, however, to attend the funeral. 

To Henry Adams 

The Brunswick, 
New York, Dec. 9, 1885. 

My dear Henry: — 

I hoped all day yesterday and this morning to hear 
from you, and thought it possible you might sum- 
mon King and me to be with you at the last. But 
I suppose you had already gone north when I sent 
my dispatch. I return to Cleveland to-night. 

I can neither talk to you nor keep silent. The dark- 
ness in which you walk has its shadow for me also. 
You and your wife were more to me than any other 
two. I came to Washington because you were there. 
And now this goodly fellowship is broken up forever. 
I cannot force on a man like you the commonplaces 
of condolence. In the presence of a sorrow like yours 



6o JOHN HAY 

it is little for your friends to say they love you and 
sympathize with you — but it is all anybody can 
say. Everything else is mere words. 

Is it any consolation to remember her as she was? 
that bright, intrepid spirit, that keen, fine intellect, 
that lofty scorn of all that was mean, that social 
charm which made your house such a one as Wash- 
ington never knew before, and made hundreds of 
people love her as much as they admired her. No, 
that makes it all so much harder to bear. 

We are anxious about you. Tell us, when you can, 
how it is with you. You have a great sorrow, but no 
man should bear sorrow better than you. 

Mr. Adams commissioned Saint-Gaudens to de- 
sign, as a memorial to Mrs. Adams, the statue which 
was erected in the Rock Creek Cemetery outside of 
Washington. Hay wTOte his first impression of it to 
Mr. Adams, who was then in England. 

Washington, March 25, 1891. 

. . . To-day Del and I went to Rock Creek, where 
we were joined by Mrs. Cameron and Mrs. Lodge. 
Mrs. Hay could not go, being laid up by a severe 
cold. Mrs. Cameron and Del will send you the fruit 
of their cameras. The work is indescribably noble 
and imposing. It is, to my mind, St. Gaudens's mas- 



THE WASHINGTON CIRCLE 6i 

terpiece. It is full of poetry and suggestion. Infinite 
wisdom ; a past without beginning and a future with- 
out end; a repose, after limitless experience; a peace, 
to which nothing matters — all embodied in this 
austere and beautiful face and form. . . . 

For a while after Mrs. Adams's death the group 
was broken up. Mr. Adams went on long journeys 
to Japan, to Tahiti, and other Pacific islands, taking 
La Farge with him for a companion. Hay missed him 
greatly, as his letters, some of which I print in the 
following chapters, show. At last, Mr. Adams re- 
turned to Lafayette Square, and revived, singly, his 
hospitality. His breakfasts became an institution, 
not less notable than those of Rogers and Milnes 
in the London of an earlier time. ''His friends," he 
says, "sometimes took pity on him, and came to 
share a meal with him or pass a night on their pas- 
sage south or northwards, but existence was, on the 
whole, exceedingly solitary, or seemed so to him. 
. . . He loved solitude as little as others did ; but he 
was unfit for social work, and he sank under the 
surface." This, on looking back, was his report: but 
to his intimates — and these included women of 
wit and charm and distinction — the hours spent 
in his study or at his table were the best that Wash- 
ington could give. 



62 JOHN HAY 

This gathering of ladies with men completed the 
attraction of Mr. Adams's hospitality: it added also 
that note of civilization which men alone cannot 
supply. During a reign of sixteen years, he says, 
"Mrs. Cameron and Mrs. Lodge led a career with- 
out precedent and without succession, as dispensers 
of sunshine over Washington," — and over the 
shrine of friendship at 1603 H Street. 

This was the background, these were the vital 
elements of John Hay's mature life. Amid this 
fellowship he found in many forms the culture for 
mind and taste that he craved. Here his appetite for 
society, always eager and now fastidious, could be 
satisfied. If he secretly longed for the opportunity 
to exercise the powers he was conscious of possess- 
ing, he kept silent, and regarded his deprivation as 
but one more example of the Cosmic Irony which 
assigns their lot to men. Mr. Adams had come to 
face life in rather the sardonic mood ; Hay tended to 
the humorous. 

The group which gathered round Mr. Adams has 
had no counterpart on this side of the Atlantic. It 
was free alike from the academic flavor which pre- 
vailed in Boston and Cambridge, and from the Bo- 
hemianism which New Yorkers seemed to affect. 
Its leading members had the Renaissance stamp of 
versatility. The great artists among its members 



THE WASHINGTON CIRCLE 63 

strengthened its likeness to the Renaissance coteries 
at Florence or Ferrara; and so did the presence of 
highly cultivated women. 

Although the deep, true satisfaction flowed to 
Hay from these intimates, he enjoyed a touch-and- 
go acquaintance with many persons of all sorts who 
never entered Mr. Adams's door. He mixed in that 
grotesque conglomerate known as Washington so- 
ciety, and played his part well there, as he did 
everywhere, so well, indeed, that those who could 
not look beneath the surface supposed that the role 
of society man sufficed for him. In truth, however, 
he took society as a pastime, not more important 
and often not more diverting than a game of cards. 

His children filled a large place in his life. He 
continually mentioned them in his letters. Here is 
a droll paragraph from a letter to Mr. Adams: — 

''One by one, our offspring have come down with 
measles. I went last week to visit my mother, leav- 
ing two of them in bloom, with an imbecile hope that 
the rest might escape; but I got back last night to 
find the baby in flagrant efflorescence, and this 
morning Del looks like an Italian sunset." (May 12, 
1887.) 

How does a father live in the memory of his chil- 
dren? is always a searching question, the answer to 
which helps us to round out his portrait. At my re- 



64 JOHN HAY 

quest, Mr. Hay's children have sent the following 
notes. 

Mrs. Whitney writes : — 

"He was a most satisfactory father from a child's 
point of view. I don't think he ever even reproved 
me in his life; he shirked any kind of parental au- 
thority. He was most keenly sensitive about giving 
moral pain to any one, and also at the idea of any 
physical pain. If we hurt ourselves, just a little, 
as children, and wanted to be petted and deeply 
sympathized with, it was always to him we went; 
if we really hurt ourselves, we had to pretend to 
him that we had n't, and go to my mother to be 
mended. 

"The greatest treat we had was to go 'on a spree,' 
as he called it, with him. When I was away at 
school he used to come on and always arranged a 
* program' ahead which began with : ' We will have 
a nice sandwich lunch at the station; we will then go 
to call on an old lady who wishes to see you, and we 
will finish the day with a delightful and improving 
lecture on astronomy.' Which meant, of course, that 
we lunched at Delmonico's on whatever I wanted 
to order, and shopped and 'played' all the after- 
noon, and finished up with a musical comedy. 

"To most people he was a man who never did or 
could unbend ; but to us he was the very jolliest kind 



THE WASHINGTON CIRCLE 65 

of a pal. When we were little, we had a regular 
concert every night. He had a very charming, true 
voice, and sang dozens of the old war-time songs 
and plantation melodies; also, I remember a very 
ribald one which ended, 'and the baby's hair was 
red ' — but my mother made him stop that ! The 
evening would end with a 'Kalabacine story.' The 
'Kalabacine' was a little fairy hero, something like 
an Irish Pixie, who was as real to us as a member of 
the family, and his adventures were marvelous and 
endless. We used to beg him later to put ' Kalabacine* 
in print, but he always said it was so ' on the spur of 
the moment' he never could remember how to put 
it down." 

Mrs. Wadsworth corroborates several of her sis- 
ter's reminiscences, and adds these others: — 

"One of my strongest impressions of my father 
was the contrast between his gentle, uncomplaining 
patience in his own afflictions, and the splendid, 
fiery, righteous indignation which injustice or the 
wrongs of others instantly roused in him. He would 
never make any effort to further his own comfort. 

"He was constantly trying to teach us impartial- 
ity and fair judgment. For example — there was a 
lady of our acquaintance who for some obscure rea- 
son had incurred our infant disapprobation. One 
day at luncheon my father said: 'How handsome 



66 JOHN HAY 

Mrs. looked to-day.' There came a hoot of 

derision and dissent from around the table. My 
father said: 'You shrimps are bHnd with prejudice. 
You can't see beauty or good in anything or any one 
that is n't personally attractive to you. Now, / hate 

Mrs. , but she's an extremely good-looking 

person.' 

"He admired and advocated thoroughness and 
completeness. If he heard us singing or whistling 
scraps of a tune, he would stop us and ask whether 
we 'did n't know the rest of it.' If we said yes, he 
would tell us to sing it all ; if not, to learn it, or else 
try something else. He also taught us to write ad- 
dresses clearly, and without abbreviation of streets, 
cities or states. 

" He was a spirit rather than a voice in the house- 
hold government. We were sent to 'ask Papa,' who 
always said: 'What does Mother say? She knows 
best' — and that was final. He had an aversion, 
amounting to physical suffering, to publicity in any 
form, and his greatest public utterances were pre- 
ceded by days of nervous dread that sometimes made 
him literally ill. His wonderful fund of self-control 
and balance always came to the rescue at the critical 
moment, but they could not prevent his suffering 
agonies of anticipation. He once said: 'Luckily the 
shakes go to my knees and not to my voice.' 



THE WASHINGTON CIRCLE 67 

"He was so tender-hearted that my mother always 
had to deal with our youthful injuries, illnesses and 
discipline without his cooperation. He could n't 
bear to see us hurt or made unhappy, even for our 
own good. He spoiled us shamefully with money, 
always giving us double the amount we said we 
needed. 

"He was the least self-indulgent of men I have 
ever known, and yet one of his favorite teachings 
was: 'If you see a thing you really want, get it, no 
matter what it costs. If you don't, it will haunt you 
all the rest of your life and come between you and 
the later desires of your heart, and make them ap- 
pear less and less desirable. 

The following poem, which Mr. Hay slipped into 
a copy of "The House Beautiful," for Mrs. Hay, 
will fitly complete these glimpses of the inner family 
life. 

[THE HOUSE BEAUTIFUL.] 

Not pomp of crimson or of gold, 
Nor aught the dazzled eye can see, 

In Art's creations manifold, 

Make the House Beautiful for me. 

One dear fair presence, lovelier 
Than all the miracles of art, 
With gentle power to move and stir 
The deepest pulses of my heart — 



68 JOHN HAY 

Her smiles, the sound of melodies 
Made purer by her voice, the face 

Wherein all candid harmonies 

Have found their peaceful dwelling-place, 

A voice and eyes, twice-mirrored truth — 

A spirit sunny, bland and sage, 
The bloom and charm of gracious youth, 

The promise of a lovelier age — 

The children, her small images. 

Who lisp their sweet prayers at her knee, 

All three alike God's children, these 
Make the House Beautiful for me. 

Hay had great delight in the early manifestation 
of poetic talent by his daughter Helen. On April lo, 
1895, he writes to Mr. E. C. Burlingame, the Editor 
of Scrihner^s Magazine: " My daughter has written a 
few things that seem to my not impartial taste good 
enough to print. I send you a sonnet, knowing your 
conscience is more powerful than your friendship — 
and that, if you do not like It, you will not hesitate 
to send it back to me." Scrihner's accepted the son- 
net, and In 1898 a little volume with the modest 
title, "Some Verses, by Helen Hay," was published. 

Hay himself, despite the depoetlzing efifect of a 
long-continued prose work like the "Lincoln," occa- 
sionally sought expression through the cherished lan- 
guage of his youth. He writes Mr. Gilder of the 
Century, on June 3, 1890: — 



THE WASHINGTON CIRCLE 69 

"Here is a sonnet which I hope may find favor in 
the eyes of you — past-master of the sonnet. If you 
think it worth printing, it is yours, without money 
or price, on the condition it be printed anonymously. 
I am rather too old a bird to be singing in this strain. 
If you conclude to print it, tell me about when, and 
send me a proof. 

^' June 5. Your ear is all right — not so long, per- 
haps, as some editors'. Pronounce 'heaven' in one 
syllable, and there you are. If you prefer 'sky,' 
why 'sky' be it. I have a preference for heaven, be- 
ing a Presbyterian." 

Gilder, acquiescing in Hay's Presbyterian prefer- 
ence for heaven, printed the sonnet in the Novem- 
ber (1890) Century. 

One other literary letter belongs here : — 

To W. D. Howells 

Washington, June 8, 1890. 

I have had the impudence to collect all my verses, 
new and stale, into one volume which Houghton & 
Mifflin have printed. But I have at the same time 
printed a little edition of them for my friends and 
lovers, of which I send you a copy. You will not 
suspect me of taking them too seriously in thus dress- 
ing them up. On the contrary, it is only the con- 
scious amateur who does such things. 



70 JOHN HAY 

June JJ. . . . I have not, I think, told you how I 
was "seized" by your "Shadow of a Dream." You 
produce masterpieces faster than I can write letters. 
This is tremendous in power and grasp. Turgenieff 
himself might have signed those delightful and mas- 
terly pages. I am proud to feel such things are done 
in my time and by a friend of mine. 

Hay's generosity of spirit, which shines in such 
letters as this, also displayed itself in the easier and 
commoner form of material benefactions. He shrank 
from letting even his intimates know of his frequent 
gifts; but one example may be told here. When 
Matthew Arnold stopped to lecture in Cleveland, 
he stayed with the Hays. On the afternoon of the 
lecture Hay went round to the theater and inquired 
how the tickets were selling. Learning that very few 
had been sold, he bought up all the rest and dis- 
tributed them among students of the University. 
That evening, as Arnold faced a large and enthu- 
siastic audience, he perhaps flattered himself on hav- 
ing a greater number of admirers in Cleveland than 
he had found in many cities more populous and more 
renowned for culture. Hay never divulged to Arnold 
the magic which wrought this result. 

During Hay's life in Washington, he used his 
ample means, not on the luxuries and amusements 



J 



THE WASHINGTON CIRCLE 71 

of the vulgar rich, but on those objects which appeal 
to men and women of taste. Infinitely more precious 
to him than anything money could buy were his 
friendships. They not only satisfied the healthy de- 
mands of his affections, but fed his always keen and 
craving intellect, and stimulated his enjoyment of 
the fine arts. Washington gave him a better oppor- 
tunity than any other American city afforded to know 
men of every stripe and observe how masses of men 
are swayed; and his frequent visits to England en- 
abled him to compare the Aristocratic system where 
birth still had a large influence in determining a 
man's position, with the Democratic system at home. 
Nearly everybody of any importance at Washington 
was his own ancestor, having proved his superiority 
in law, journalism, or politics, in mines, or oil, 
or railroads, in Wall Street or in the Chicago Stock 
Yards: and to this rule Hay himself was no excep- 
tion. 

Looked at from this point of view, the years which 
he seemed to be spending unproductively were really 
completing his preparation for the crowning achieve- 
ments of his career. 



CHAPTER XX 

LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 

I CANNOT do better, to carry on the story of 
John Hay's career for the next seven or eight 
years — if story there be — than quote freely from 
a parcel of his letters to Henry Adams. The ele- 
ments of Hay's life we have already assembled. The 
great red house in Lafayette Square was home hence- 
forth to him and his. The vital friendships of his 
heart — that with Henry Adams first, that with 
Clarence King second — had ripened. His routine 
was fixed. He passed his winters in Washington; his 
summers, after 1890, at Newbury, New Hampshire, 
near Lake Sunapee. But he had also his "hut" in the 
Rockies, and his house in Cleveland, and business or 
pleasure took him to Chicago, or New England, or the 
South. Fast trains made the journey to New York 
so easy that it had become a common incident in 
their social programme. And until his mother died, 
the year rarely passed when Hay failed to visit her 
in Warsaw. 

Europe also was brought so near by the swift 
ocean liners, that the Hays frequently crossed the 
Atlantic. The older children were old enough to enjoy 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 73 

sight-seeing, and their father took especial delight 
in guiding them to the historic places. He and Mrs. 
Hay paid visits to friends in English and Scotch 
country-houses. They saw more and more of Eng- 
lish life, diversified by reunions with Americans — 
Henry James, Abbey, Frank Millet, and others, who 
had settled in England. 

The letters in 1887 begin during one of these holi- 
day visits overseas. 

To Henry Adams 
Tillypronie/ Aberdeenshire, July 20, 1887. 

My dear Henry: — 

I got your letter the other day in London just as 
we were flitting from that jubilating ^ and tiresome 
town. We planted the babies in the sand and 
shingle at Folkestone and then went off to the Far- 
rers in Surrey. Thence we came north by slow de- 
grees; whenever we came in sight of a cathedral 
tower we stopped the train and got off and dined 
and slept. Thus we did at Ely and Norwich and 
York, and finally at Edinburgh. After that, we went 
to Andy Carnegie in Perthshire, who is keeping his 
honeymoon — having just married a pretty girl — 

^ The Scotch estate of Sir John Clark, one of Hay's earliest and 
dearest friends in Britain. 

2 Queen Victoria's jubilee had been celebrated in June. 



74 JOHN HAY 

in the sensiblest manner imaginable, by never allow- 
ing an opportunity for an hour's tete-a-tete from one 
week's end to another. The house is thronged with 
visitors — sixteen when we came away, — we merely 
stayed three days, the others were there for a fort- 
night. Among them were your friends Blaine and 
Hale of Maine. Carnegie likes it so well he is going 
to do it every summer, and is looking at all the great 
estates in the County with a view of renting or pur- 
chasing. We went with him one day to Dupplin 
Castle, where I saw the most beautiful trees I ever 

beheld in my wandering life. The old Earl of 

is miserably poor — not able to buy a bottle of 
seltzer, — with an estate worth millions in the hands 
of his creditors, and sure to be sold one of these days 
to some enterprising Yankee or British Buttonmaker. 
I wish you or Carnegie would buy it. I would visit 
you frequently. 

London, August 25, 1887. 

Dear Adams: — 

James comes in to dinner occasionally and is re- 
munerative. He has quite recovered from his Vene- 
tian jaundice. Mrs. Hay and I spent last Sunday with 
the Millets ^ and Abbey at Broadway, their place 

^ Frank D. Millet and Edwin A. Abbey, American painters. 
Millet was lost on the Titanic in 1912; Abbey died in 191 1. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 75 

in Worcestershire. We saw some of the prettiest 
country we have ever come across, and the estab- 
lishment wore an air of decency and intelHgence 
which was extremely agreeable. Millet is painting 
two pictures which promise well, and Abbey is at 
work on his first oil painting. He is in the stage of 
cold fit, and says it is "getting ilier and ilier." 

I bought at the R. sale a nice lot of Old Mastery 
drawings — which I tard to show you. I have also 
spent the last cent I got for " Democracy" ^ in min- 
erals for Mrs. Hay. 

After we left the Clarks' house we took the two 
older shrimps and went down to Isle of Wight. We 
found the neighborhood of Cowes so infested with 
princes and such vermin that we went down to 
the south coast, and found Brading, Sandown and 
Ventnor extremely pretty and soothing. There 
are lots of pretty things in this rickety old planet, if 
we could only have the enterprise to look for them 
and the nerves to enjoy them. But — eheu fugaces 
— I ought to have done my enjoying while the day 
lasted. 

We expect to be in New York on the 17th Sep- 
tember. Then I hurry to Cleveland — put my affairs 
into disorder — and scoot down to Washington at 
the earliest possible moment. I hope I may meet you 
^ A joke, as Mr. Adams wrote Democracy. 



76 JOHN HAY 

there, though if you go to Mexico, I shall be content 
for your and King's sake, dismal as Washington will 
be without you. I shall work like a yeast plant 
this winter — not because I feel like it but be- 
cause I hate it, and because I feel that my time is 
waning. 

My wife and children send their loves. The chil- 
dren bid me tell you they have a little collie pup, — 
they know you will be glad to hear it. 

Cleveland, O., October 22, 1889. 

I am grieved to think you are to fail, also, of your 
Mexico. My own disappointment did not move me 
half so much — for sufferance is my badge. . . . 

Our Highland Lassie came home last night "late, 
late in the gloaming," like Kilmeny, escorted by two 
schoolboys, and for the advertised reward. The 
children welcomed her without a word of doubt. 
The baby, at the first word of demur, shouted, — 
"Of course it 's Yossie!" and all the sceptics gave in 
their adhesion this morning at the brilliant success 
of a test proposed by Del. He took her into the 
garden where she broke away and ran to a pile of 
leaves at the foot of the lot, and dug up a bone she 
had providently hidden there before her escapade. 
But I could not have believed a dog could have 
developed so rapidly in a fortnight. However, two 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 77 

weeks of vagrancy would accomplish a good deal in 
any young female. She has a detestable little air of 
having seen the world and being up to snuff. 

... I am trying to settle up my little affairs so 
as to leave here as near the ist November as may 
be, and come to you. I have had two or three days 
of duck-shooting on our marsh; — no ducks, but a 
peculiarly fascinating landscape of wild rice and 
lily-pads. . . . 

Cleveland, O., November 4, 1889. 

My Cherished Livy: — 

I fully expected till an hour ago to bask in your 
"social wit" to-morrow. But things have concate- 
nated so as to keep me here all this week. 

So keep up a good heart! . . . Give Spring-Rice 
my love and fond regrets! Give the Goddesses of 
the breakfast-table my worship and duty! Give the 
President [Harrison] three years' warning! . . . 

Cleveland, O., July 12, 1890. 

We leave here next Wednesday and take two lei- 
surely days for our journey to Newbury. I try to 
shut my eyes to what may happen when we get there. 
I shall be in the position of a school teacher without 
lessons and without authority. If I were only with 
you cleaving the blue waters of the Pacific, eatine* 



78 JOHN HAY 

an occasional missionary with the unconverted na- 
tives, or, in default of that, carving a loaf of bread- 
fruit "by the long wash of Australasian seas," I 
might recover the lost tone of my spirits. As it is, 
I enjoy little but sleep. I get plenty of that in this 
cool and breezy village. My day in New York was 
the hottest I remember, — the next day, here, I 
needed an overcoat, driving home from the station. 

As Hafiz sang — "How sad were the sunset, were 
we not sure of the morrow!" and that is just our 
fix. That pleasant gang which made all the joy of 
life in easy, irresponsible Washington, will fall to 
pieces in your absence. You were the only principle 
of cohesion in it. All its elements will seek other 
combinations except me, and I will be left at the 
ghost-haunted corner of i6th and H. 

... I had a letter just now from Henry James. 
He had dutifully done his Oher Ammergau, which 
bored him, and he was going to leave Venice before 
Mrs. J. arrived. 

Boston, July 17, 1890. 

Your good letter reached me yesterday at Cleve- 
land when I was on my way to the station. It com- 
forted me through the long journey, kid-haunted and 
hot, from Cleveland to Boss-town. I have no excuse 
for writing to-night except that you said you had not 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 79 

my new address, which is, to wit: Newbury, New 
Hampshire. Thither I go at early fowl-crow to- 
morrow, to plunge into a barbarism profounder than 
any that Stanley came across in Jimjamjumbo. My 
desire to go to the Pacific with you increases at every 
new exhibition of the bellicose with my children; and 
yet I feel more and more that my duty lies here — to 
keep them from massacring each other. 

You are also a discoverer. You have discovered 
that my mare — is quiet. Let us give her a name 
worthy of her, and call her The Pacific. I got her as 
a life-insurance for the children — and they unani- 
mously refused to ride her on the ground that she 
has no hustle on her. I do not know what my poor 
little wretches will do at Newbury; — they are look- 
ing forward to a season of summer opera-bouffe, in- 
stead of the deadly repose we have planned for them. 
I went out to-day and bought Del a carload of fishing 
tackle which he will never learn to use. He did not 
even seem to care for the shopping. In my day, 
buying the hooks and lines, and digging the bait was 
fun enough, even if you caught no fish. 

This is a wonderful city of yours in its summer sleep. 
Commonwealth Avenue and Beacon Street [Boston] 
are as still as Tadmor in the desert — swathed in 
green cerements of Ampelopsis, as if earth's con- 
cerns were not over for them. We should have felt 



8o JOHN HAY 

quite lonesome had not our dear Gen'l B. turned up 
at lunch. His is the only familiar face we have come 
across in Boston. A few people seemed alive in a 
goodly building, which our hackman said was "a 
club of private gentlemen, called the AU-gonquin." 

Newbury, N.H., Aug. 5, 1890. 

. . . Mrs. Hay has once more proved her superior- 
ity to me in practical sagacity. This sojourn which I 
regarded with horror has turned out rather agreeable 
than otherwise, I do not mind the country fare. The 
children seem very happy. They have even more 
amusements than they can manage. They fish and 
row and swim. They colonize the desert islands in the 
lake. They climb the hills. They quarrel and fight 
and have a good time generally. 

I cannot tell you how my heart sinks at the thought 
of your going away without me. I recognize it as the 
last ringing of the bell. I now feel that I shall never 
go west, and thence east. I shall never see California 
nor the Isles of the Sea. But we have resolved to 
begin building at once, and I must be here during the 
next three weeks. I am a worthless creature, desti- 
tute of initiative. 

Yours, what there is of me. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 8i 

Cleveland, 0., Oct. 9, 1890. . 
My dear Globe-Trotter: — 

I . . . start home to my mother on Monday next. 
Then I come back here and shoot at some ducks, and 
then go down to Washington. My visit to that capi- 
tal is attended with some palpitation, as my Botti- 
celli has arrived and is at my house, as yet unhonored 
and unhung. I am half afraid to see it, yet I wish to 
know the worst. But oh! the misery of the empty 
house next door! 

800 Sixteenth Street, 
Lafayette Square, Dec. 12, 1890. 

If it is any pleasure for you to know that you have 
planted the thorn of envy in the breast of a friend, 
you have the right to enjoy that pleasure to the full- 
est extent. I read and re-read your Samoan letter. 
I hang over your photographs and contemplate your 
old-gold girls, and interrogate the universe, asking if 
there was ever such a fool as I — who shall never, a 
grand jamais, enter that Paradise! King says we 
will go some day, but King will never be ready, nor 
will L 

Everything has gone to tarnation smash since you 
went away. First the G. O. P.-^ went to wreck over 

» "G. O. P." — "Grand Old Party," as the Republican Party was 
nicknamed. 



82 JOHN HAY 

McKinley's Bill, and the G. O. M. over Mrs. O'Shea's 
beak.^ Your own Democracy with its 150 majority 
is far from happy, as it is mounted on the Farmer's 
Alliance, and no man knoweth whither it goeth. 
W. H., e.g., was beaten for the Senate yesterday by 
one Ingalls, whose hair drops hay seed as he walks. 
The Republicans gang like ghaists but there are still 
lots of chances. Cabot Lodge is a spared monument 
of the cyclone. . . . 

But politics are a bagatelle in comparison with 
the tornado of falling stocks. We are all poorer by an 
average of ten millions apiece since you went away 
and left the continent to its fate. I think I told you 
that three men had died, each one of whom ruined 
King by his untimely demise. One would think that 
was his share of lethal casualties, but since that, 
two more have died, one of them smashed by a rail- 
way train at W. and each in his agony kicked over a 
full pail of milk which King had been a year in draw- 
ing. Worst of all, that coal arrangement which he 
had cooked up with your brother Charles, and which 
he looked forward to as a provision for his declining 
years, has gone to Hades with the revolution in 
Union Pacific.^ In spite of all he seems full of pluck 

1 "G. O. M."— "Grand Old Man," Gladstone, who split with 
Parnell, on learning of his scandalous relations with Mrs. O'Shea. 

2 Charles Francis Adams was president of the Union Pacific 
Railroad, 1884-90. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 83 

still, Is working like a Turk at new enterprises, and 
reads about viscosity the greater part of his night. 

Things in Washington are hardly worth writing 
about. Old B. of T. made a speech about J. in the 
Senate last summer which scared the Commissioners 
into a fit, so that they have again changed the site 
of the Lafayette Statue to the Southeast corner of 
the Square. They are digging a new hole for the 
foundation. Perhaps some other shining light of 
your party will object again, and they will cast the 
statue out to Oshkosh and make all the residents of 
the Square have a likeness of the hero of New Or- 
leans branded on their behimesides. Your Triumph- 
ant Democracy is a bore. 

Your modest soul has never yet conceived the 
vacancy you make in this little town. Your break- 
fast table is as a flock without a shepherd. They are 
scattered abroad and seem to possess no principle 
of cohesion. I have had the Rs. and Ls. to dinner 
once or twice, but I cannot make them gay. We try 
to put a little life into ourselves by abusing mug- 
wumps, but all our gayety rings false, and we drop 
the effort and our voices, and talk of Samoa. By the 
way H. is losing his mind. I met him in New York 
and he told me to tell you he wanted Samoa history. 
Mrs. H. also spoke of her delight in your work, and 
while I am on the subject permit me to say that V 



84 JOHN HAY 

and VI took the cake. There is a gathering strength 
and interest in these later volumes that is nothing 
short of exciting. The style is perfect, if perfect is a 
proper word applied to anything so vivid, so flex- 
ible and so powerful. I never expected to read any- 
thing which would give me so much pleasure. 

Mrs. C. and Mrs. L. are getting up a series of 
parlor concerts (Adamowski) in honor of you. The 
first one is to-day at the Russian Legation. We are 
to have the next, I believe. Only fifty tickets are 
sold, Ce^t^am^^ are desolate without you. They seek 
each other, but avoid the rest of the world. They 
read your letters and discourse of you — but they 
think your old-gold girls are horrid. I have incurred 
their grave displeasure because I admire Fanua and 
Fangali. 

M. V. has come back from her conquest of the 
British Isles, prettier and more posed than ever. She 
bowled over the aristocracy without half trying. . . . 
Spring-Rice has come and gone. . . . [He] behaved 
himself very well here — threw over a dinner at the 
Legation where thirty people were asked to meet 
him, and came to dine with me, — telling Sir Julian ^ 
he would come to him the next day. I knew nothing 
of this until it was over. The Pauncefotes were 
good-natured and did not seem to bear malice. The 
* Sir Julian Pauncefote, British Minister at Washington. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 85 

ladies are making a pet of A., — he is certainly the 
youngest sexagenarian I ever saw. He goes about 
in his pleasant, maidenly way, damning everything 
he sees. He even criticised the hands in C.'s picture 
by Sargent. He thinks R. the best we've got, but 
devilish poor after all. Yet he is good company and 
agreeable for all that. 

My big Botticelli has come and is hanging on the 
stairs. It is a beautiful thing — a picture of the first 
importance. I lie awake nights fearing it will warp, 
and get up in the morning to see if the convexity has 
become critical during the night. D. T. says it is a 
shame to bring such pictures to America, and I agree 
with her. I wanted O. to come down and look at it, 
— but O., just to spite me, up and died. So far as I can 
learn, there is nobody in the country can stop a 
picture from going to the devil if it wants to — same 
as a boy. 

Your desolate house is unfeelingly flourishing. . . . 
L. meets me on the street and asks when you are 
expected home. Ay de mi! . . . The next time you 
write, ask me some questions. I want to write to you, 
but I have nothing to say except that I miss you 
every day more and more and cannot get accus- 
tomed to the lack of you. Give my love to La Farge. 
He at least will come back one day and tell us many 
things. 



86 JOHN HAY 

Washington, Dec. 30, 1890. 

I have just read Daudet's " Port Tarascon." It is 
his definite Waterloo — everything is manque. Now 
is your chance ! Do a South Sea book, conime il n'y 
en a pas. It is a felt want. 

I feel that I am shooting into the infinite azure 
in writing to you. If this letter ever gets to Tahiti 
you will not have arrived there or will have just gone. 
You are too remote. But I will go to the Post Office 
and put it in the slot with the same vague hope 
with which one subscribes to a Missionary Fund. 
Please tell me when you write again to address you 
Care of The Queen, The Tower, London. There will 
be something familiar and definite about that. 

Now I will have to tell you, — perhaps a dozen 
fellows have done so — of Stevenson's account of 
your visit to him. Your account of that historical 
meeting is a gem of description. I have it by heart. 
His is no less perfect and characteristic. He writes 
to N. B.: — "Two Americans called on me yester- 
day. One, an artist named La Farge, said he knew 
you. The name of the other I do not recall." Bear 
up under this, like a man, in the interest of science! 
It completes the portrait of your shabby parrot. 

. . . You are losing nothing, I believe. I hear of 
nothing that is written — nothing that is said — 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 87 

nothing that is done. Nothing — "yet all there is, 
I hear." 

London, June 4, 1891. 

... I spent two days at the two Salons. I rather 
thought the seceders at the Champs de Mars had the 
best of it. The pictures that attracted attention were 
not great works of art, but the anecdotes, the epi- 
grams. There was a "Dinner at the Pharisee's" by 
B.; the traditional Christ seated at the head of the 
table ; at his feet grovels a pretty Parisian cocotte ; all 
around men of to-day, in Poole coats, stare and 
wonder or leer. . . . 

Newbury, N.H., Aug. 20, 1891. 

I came here the end of July — found everything 
in confusion and a lot of workmen dawdling. I 
started things going, and, after a week or so, sent 
for Mrs. Hay and the children. We get along well 
enough in the half-finished house, and amuse our- 
selves watching the painters and paper-hangers. The 
house, such as it is, will be finished by the time we 
leave it next month. 

I wish I could take ship to-morrow and meet you 
in some of the effete capitals of Europe. But I must 
dree my weird. I go to Cleveland from here, and to 
Washington in November. My winter will be spent 



88 JOHN HAY 

in editing the Works of Abraham Lincoln, to whom 
I then bid an everlasting farewell. . . . 

Winon's Point,! 0., Oct. 24, 1891. 

A letter to you has been weighing on my mind for 
a week or two, but yesterday your long and interest- 
ing letter of the 29th of September arrived, to put 
me still more hopelessly in your debt. It was a 
splendid wind-up of your circumnavigatory series. 
Ceylon, the mangosteen and the durian will always 
hereafter be objects of my hopeless passion. Of 
course I shall never know them. I envy you many 
things, but, most of all, that power of making up 
your mind to do things, and then doing them with- 
out any fuss. 

... I read your letter under unusual aspects. I 
got it at noon as I was starting out in my boat. 
I went to a remote pond in the marsh, and as the 
water is unprecedently low, we had to push and pull 
the boat through mud two feet deep a half a mile. 
We got there at last, after unspeakable trials, built 
our blind, and waited for ducks, "the tardy ducks 
that did n't come." So under the level evening light 
that streamed across the wild marsh, turning the 
reeds and the cane to amber, with a wind cutting to 
the marrow of my bones, I read your letter, and 
^ Shooting club of which Hay was a member. 



i 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 89 

contrasted your wise and fruitful method of amusing 
yourself with my melancholy attempts to be gay. I 
asked, with the immortal Flanagan, — "Why am 
I here?" and got no satisfactory answer. 

We are a queer lot of odds and ends. You have 
met B. and perhaps Col. H. There is no one else 
noteworthy except , the electrician, the Cleve- 
land Aladdin — a magnificent creature, 5 feet 2 in 
height, weighing two hundred and fifty pounds, who 
eats three ducks for his lunch, and then asks me 
about Carlsbad; thinks "he must go there"; is "get- 
ting heavy and bilious." 

Then there are two or three old men from 80 to 90 
— original members of the Club, — in whom every 
passion, lust, avarice, appetite and thirst, are all 
gone, and nothing is left but the inextinguishable 
love of killing ducks. They get up at daybreak and 
shoot till it is so dark they cannot see their last 
duck fall, and then limp in to supper groaning and 
whimpering, and nodding with sleep. 

Newbury, N.H., Aug. 26, 1892. 

My own dear Adams : — 

Mrs. Hay and Del and Helen came back from a 
short visit to Boston yesterday in a fury of rain which 
seemed trying to drown out our mountains and wash 
away our lake. Two doctors sat on Del : X, a New 



90 JOHN HAY 

York man, and Z. The net result of all the pow-wow- 
ing is that they don't know what is the matter with 
him : that they don't think it is hip-joint, and that it 
probably is: — that he will probably get better of it, 
if he don't get worse — though he may remain as he 
is ; — that the main thing is to consult frequently 
with an able doctor. "I," said Z., with a fine candor, 
"am as able as any." 

... I wish I could think of something to tell you. 
There is, I am told, a good deal of politics about, but 
I know nothing about it. . . . Your letters to B. and 
T. were models of style and tact; nothing better 
could have been done ; but T. goes pendering through 
the town, wondering if you really think education is 
on the whole worse than infanticide. I told him it 
was, but I doubted if you really thought so ; because, 
being a Mugwump, you naturally took the wrong 
side of everything. 

Newbury, N.H., September 13, 1892. 

We have had a lazy and peaceful summer — twice 
brightened by the presence of celestial visitors. For 
did not the Camerons come for two days, to our 
delight and amazement? Don was grumpily good- 
natured, and la Donna was radiantly lovely. They 
pretended to like the place, and commissioned me to 
ask the price of farms. I am doing so, and discover- 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 91 

ing that their visit has put everything up fifty per- 
cent. I am the only human being that has bought 
an acre of land in the place for forty years, — yet 
the auri sacra fames so rages in the autochthonous 
heart as to convince them that I and my friends are 
going to buy all their bogs at a million an inch. 

Winon's Point Club, 
Fort Clinton, O., Nov. 9, 1892. 

My beloved Mentor: — 

I slew with my gun to-day a dozen of ducks. I 
divide them between you and Mrs. Cameron, and 
send with each moiety a double portion of love. 
Think of me as sitting all day in a punt, half the time 
in rain, and the other half in snow; all the time in 
a fierce east wind ; trying to warm my poor heart 
with the thought of the charming destinataires of my 
game. 

Woe is me for my unhappy country, which is to 
struggle on under the double infliction of a stufifed 
profit and a stuffed ballot box.^ To think that you 
should say your Democrats were poor politicians ! A 
party ruled by Tammany unprovided with practical 
politics! Ah, Henry of my soul, what do you tike 
me for! 

^ Cleveland had been elected and the Republicans overwhelm- 
ingly defeated in the election of that week. 



92 JOHN HAY 

. . . But as to me it matters little. We must pay 
double taxes ^ because a Cleveland blackguard of 
your party so wills it. But I shall economize by 
breakfasting with you, and even things up in that 
way. . . . 

Washington, Feb. 20, 1893. 

My mother, who attained her 90th year on the 
seventh of this month, died the day before yester- 
day. She had been failing for some time, but with 
that unselfish fortitude which marked her whole life 
she forbade my brother and sister to send for me, and 
died at last without moral or physical trouble. All 
the rest of the family were there, or within easy 
reach. I am so far away, and there are such inter- 
ruptions of travel by storm and flood, that it is use- 
less for me to attempt to get home, even for the 
funeral. This is an added misery — though it is as 
illogical as all remorse. 

Do not imagine I am writing to extort from you 
a letter of condolence. I do not want one from 
you. You did not know what she was to us. 

Washington, D.C, March 6, 1893. 

Billy Phillips ^ told me yesterday you could be 
reached at Savannah. But what does he know? He 

^ President Cleveland advocated an income tax. 

* A Southerner settled in Washington at the practice of law. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 93 

came in to lunch yesterday and told us of your Odys- 
sey. Afterwards, while I was out for a walk, he came 
back and scared my wife into giving him all her 
Peter's Pence; he pretended it was for you. I knew 
he had been playing poker for an office with Cleve- 
land and had lost. If you don't hurry back you will 
get nothing. There are several thousand office-seek- 
ers of your sort camped about V.'s house. Some 
dozens come hourly to me, thinking I am [Senator 
Calvin] Brice, and swearing when they find I am not. 
Brass bands played ribald tunes under his Presby- 
terian windows all day Sunday! It is a pretty town 
you and your gang have made of it. 

Cleveland, June 9, 1893. 
We heard the most dismal news of our tavern: 
that it is not finished and never will be ; that the ele- 
vators are unborn; that the walls suintent Chicago 
water and malaria — and verily we are sore beset. 
Add to that, every business house in Chicago seems 
aux abois; a lame darkey has just left my office after 
making me help buy him a $12 horse; an English- 
woman from Allahabad without an h to her back 
has done me out of a month's rent in the name of 
sweet charity; the tax-gatherer sits on my doorstep 
in permanence; and C. and the M. boys fight from 
dawn till dusk. 



94 JOHN HAY 

Cleveland, July 3, 1893. 

. . . Well, we have done our Chicago, and have 
not a word to say about it. We were all knocked 
silly. It beats the brag so far out of sight that even 
Chicago is dumb. 

The impression which the World's Fair made on 
Hay did not soon fade. More than four months later 
he wrote to his friend Gilder: — 

To R. W. Gilder 

Paris, Nov. 20, 1893. 

Dear Mr. Gilder: — 

Your letter of the 4th reached me only to-day, too 
late for me to write anything for printing in your 
paper. Even if I had received it in time, what I could 
have said would have been little to the purpose. I 
imagine that most of your responses must have been 
as monotonous as a chorus of angels in glory. The 
Chicago Fair was, in almost every respect, the great- 
est universal exposition ever seen; but in architec- 
tural beauty, and in the felicity of the disposition 
of its principal features, it so far transcended any- 
thing which the genius and the devotion of man has 
ever yet achieved, that it will probably be remem- 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 95 

bered and celebrated more for the incomparable 
splendor and loveliness of the ensemble than for 
any merit of details; the particular claims to admira- 
tion, great as they were, are likely to be neglected 
in the overpowering impression of grandeur and 
beauty made by the whole. 

Perhaps the thing that has most impressed me has 
been the entire ignorance of Europe in regard to the 
matter. The most beautiful sight that has ever glad- 
dened the eyes of humanity has shone for six months 
on the shores of Lake Michigan, and it is hardly too 
much to say that the rest of the world knows no- 
thing, and refuses to know anything, about it. When 
we speak of it, we are met with incredulity and a 
more or less polite lifting of the eyebrows. In the 
annual revue of one of the Paris theatres, it is repre- 
sented as a four gigantesque. In this country where 
they are continually talking of our worship of the 
Dollar, the Chicago Fair is summarily dismissed from 
notice as a failure, because the stockholders made 
no money out of it. They order these things better 
in France. 

But it is not philosophical to quarrel about such 
matters. Contemporaneous history gives no account 
of the Crucifixion. Nobody knows anything about 
Shakespeare. The Chicago Exhibition has fared 
better, at least, than these two events, the most 



96 JOHN HAY 

important in the history of the human mind. A great 
many milHons of Americans have brought away 
from it higher and nobler standards of beauty and 
grandeur than they ever had before. 



CHAPTER XXI 

LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS {continued) 

AFTER visiting the World's Fair at Chicago, 
. the Hays lost no time in hastening to Europe, 
where they spent a year. They had planned much 
journeying with Mr. Adams, who was already in 
Switzerland, but news of the financial panic called 
him suddenly home. 

To Henry Adams 

London, July 22, 1893. 

My dear Enrique: — 

Your letter from Zermatt has this moment reached 
me, and my altruistic soul is half assuaged of its 
grief at not seeing you in England when I think of 
you "lolling on silken sofies in the gilded palaces of 
royalty," and contemplating the Alps in the eyes of 
the all-beautifullest R. . . . 

We arrived here Thursday night. We had a dull 
voyage — there was nobody on board worthy of a 
place at your breakfast-table ; and the weather, while 
not rough, was wet and muggy all the way. We got 
to Liverpool Wednesday evening too late to come 



98 JOHN HAY 

on; so slept enjoyably in a shore bed, and came on 
the next day. They gave me a car to my own cheek 
without charge, — I don't see how these innocent 
EngHsh roads pay their dividends when we, who 
treat the pubHc with deserved contempt and out- 
rage, can't make both ends meet. 

Our plans, which you do us the honor to ask for, 
are vague but simple. We stay here till August i. 
Then go to Scotland for a week or two — come back 
here and start for Paris about the ist of September. 
Two or three people have kindly asked us to visit 
them, but it seems so impossible to bestow our little 
menagerie of venomous wild creatures that we shall 
have to decline everything of the sort, except per- 
haps a few days at Tillypronle, whither Helen and 
;Del will accompany us. 

I hope we may see you in Paris — though my 
hopes are not too presumptuous or robust. Per- 
haps you may get enough of the Alps by that time 
— perhaps you may get nostalgique for the Palais 
.'Royal. 

1 had an amusing talk with White ^ this morning 
■ — far too amusing to put on paper. He knows no- 
thing as yet of his salvation ; he has heard L. is after 
his scalp. 

^ Mr. Henry White, First Secretary of the American Legation in 
London. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 99 

London, Aug. 29, 1893. 

My Own and Onliest: — 

... I got here an hour or two ago from Scotland, 
and found yours of the 12th on my table. ^ I am glad 
you are alive, and able to pay for your champagne 
— and mine also — I don't drink much. I got let- 
ters at the same time from Cleveland and New York 
ful of dolor and profanity. People I owe want their 
money, which they won't get it. Hallelujah! People 
who owe me say they will be d — d if they pay — 
which I think quite probable. But seedtime and har- 
vest will follow each other. There will be marrying 
and giving in marriage. Statesmen will lie and be 
lied about. Speculators will rob and be robbed. And 
pretty women and good wine will still be found at the 
old and reliable stand, No. 1603 H. Do not forget the 
number! No connection with the shop over the way. 

We feel as if we had been out of the world for the 
last month. We had a peaceful ten days at Tilly- 
pronie. The old Laird and Lady were not well, of 
course, but wonderfully plucky and bright, and did 
not let us feel that they were suffering or that we 
were in the way. I had a sharp attack of rheumatism 
which stopped my breathing for 24 hours. But 1 
astonished the little Tillypronie by getting well in 

^ Mr. Adams reached New York on August 6, expecting to hear 
that he was bankrupt. 



100 JOHN HAY 

two days. I made the useful discovery that breath is 
not necessary to life. We spent a day at Glen Tana, 
and then pulled out and abode a few days at Fyvie. 
Helen and Del were with us, and enjoyed their stay 
in that beautiful fortress as much as they ought. 
Helen was deeply disgusted at not being told until 
juit as we were going away that she had been sleeping 
in a ghost-chamber, haunted by the lively spirit of 
Lilias Drummond, the Green Lady. I suppose the 
ghost thought if she tackled a Yankee girl, she would 
get the worst of it. We went on from there to the As. 
who were on their heads in sixteen kinds of a hurry, 
getting ready for Canada. Sir J. was there, and 
went with us to Aberdeen to say good-bye. I was 
much touched at his emotion at parting. The same 
thought was doubtless in both our minds, that we 
were saying farewell for the last time. Few and evil 
are the days that are left to both of us. 

. . . Good-bye! I agree with you about the future. 
But I distrust my own black spectacles. Things 
can't be so bad as I think. 

Aix-les-Bains, Sept. 25, 1893. 

My dear Globe-Trotter: — 

Your letter of the 8th has just reached me, having 
been forwarded twice and lost a day each time. It 
represents you in such a frog-hopping attitude that 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS loi 

I am not sure this will ever find you. So I will make 
it short, and not repeat my error of sending reams 
of science and morals to you at Tahiti, which arrived, 
as old as Aristotle, after you had been years in Wash- 
ington. 

I am here because, like a fool, I took all my friends' 
advice, who told me it would be good for the rheu- 
matism. I have got steadily worse every day since 
I arrived — but I calculate I can stave off your 
friend Thanatos for ten days more, the period of my 
cure. The doctor tells me I have Thermal Fever, 
the result of the baths. It is not much worse than 
cholera, so I will grin and drop the subject. When 
you get this I will be in Paris or Hades. . . . 

Aix-les-Bains, October 2, 1893. 

Your letter of the 21st of September arrived here 
to-day and found me in most uncommon dumps. My 
fool of a doctor has discovered another mortal mal- 
ady in me, which tickled him very much, and dis- 
gusted me to such an extent that I am waiting only 
to see whether to-morrow is a fine day or not. If it 
is, I am going to the Grande Chartreuse near Cham- 
bery; if it is not, I am going to Paris, and the doctor 
may go hang. I have wasted three weeks here. No- 
thing is changed; there is only one humbug the 
more. 



102 JOHN HAY 

But you — the expectancy and rose of the Demo- 
cratic party — what has man thee, thou artless one, 
gedone? Having a mind of your own, young man, 
when the President has spoken, will bring you to no 
good end. All men of virtue and intelligence know 
that all the ills of life — scarcity of money, bald- 
ness, the comma bacillus. Home Rule, J., and the 
Potato Bug — are due to the Sherman Bill.^ If it 
is repealed, sin and death will vanish from the world, 
. . . the skies will fall, and we shall all catch larks. 

Paris, November 3, 1893. 

My Beloved : — 

I have no idea where you are or what you are doing, 
but from force of habit I shut my eyes and shoot a 
letter at you from time to time, feeling that it makes 
no difference whether you get it or not. This one is 
to tell you that we are going to skedaddle from this 
gay and wicked city (this is the formula — for my 
part I have found it as dull as a dead rat and vitre- 
ous as a mugwump), on or about the 20th of the 
present month, for a little meander of four weeks in 
Spain. Then we come back here for a week, give 
the shrimps a Christmas dinner, and betake our- 
selves to Italy, with what appetite we may. This is 

* The Sherman Silver Act, passed July 14, 1890, intended to 
check the free coinage of silver, required the yearly purchase of 
54,000,000 ounces of silver, and the issue of Treasury notes thereon. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 103 

our modest programme, and I give it to you as is my 
bounden duty. It may not be carried out, for I get 
up each morning with the impression that I will 
probably drop to pieces during the day. But that 
is all in a day's work, and we shall go if I can 
toddle. 

I can see you are having so much fun in Lafayette 
Square with your Bs and your Ls and Silver Bills, 
that nothing will tempt you to come away — so I 
will stop importuning you. Did you see Henry 
White? ^ You ought to be ashamed of yourself for 
bouncing him. . . . 

We went the other day to see Sardou's Madame 
Sans Gene. It would have amused you. It is in your 
period, and Napoleon, in full uniform, stands on his 
hearth-rug and abuses his sisters Elise and Caroline, 
like a coster. There are a lot of little plays at the 
small theatres, but it is no fun to go alone, and so 
long as you shirk your duty I shall not see them. 

Rome, January 21, 1894. 

I am willing to stand even your unprincipled vi- 
tuperation, to get a letter from you. But are you 
crazy? I have written you a million times, by actual 
count. 

We are in Rome, and it is grotesquely melancholy 
^ Mr. White was removed to make way for a Democrat. 



104 JOHN HAY 

to see how incapable of enjoying it I have become in 
the time it has taken to get here. Take warning by 
me and stop globe-trotting, now that you are young 
and gay. 

We were frozen stiff on the way here. Turin was 
knee-deep in snow. Genoa was sw^ept by a murder- 
ous mistral. I gave up and went to bed at Pisa — 
but Florence picked me up and smoothed the creases 
out of me in fine style. I think on the whole when you 
get ready to open your heart and set me up in life, 
you may buy me the Strozzi Palace. With weather, 
and art, and architecture, one can worry along. We 
have all three here, but in addition we have a lot 
of American bosom-friends, and that complicates 
matters. 

Helen and I went to the grand function at the 
Pantheon, where they had a magnificent mass to get 
old Vict. Emman. out of his well-earned purgatory. 
As we stood in the gorgeous gloom of incense smoke 
and flambeaux in a suffocating crowd, I heard a fa- 
miliar voice at my shoulder say — "Well, I did not 
expect when I saw you last, to see you next in the 
Pantheon, in a dress coat at ten o'clock in the morn- 
ing." It was P. B., also in a dress coat and white 
cravat, as our "etiquettes" prescribed. And coming 
out, I heard more English, or what passes for Eng- 
lish, than Italian. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 105 

1 am delighted to hear you expect to take King 
to the West Indies.^ It will not hurt you, and will 
do him no end of good. It would be almost worth 
an attack of meningitis to take a trip to the tropics 
with you. Comfort him and jolly him up. Saturate 
him with sunshine and sapodillas, and get him to 
come and live in Washington like a man and bro- 
ther. Now that his affairs have gone to everlasting 
smash, we can set him up in a bijou of a house, 
and give him corn and wine and oil to educate us 
in viscosity.^ 

We are here for a few weeks. If Helen insists on 
Egypt, to Egypt we go. But there are a few girls 
and dudes of her species here and I hope she will 
like it well enough to dawdle along here till it gets 
too warm for the Nile. . . . There is something to do 
every day. All I lack is a stomach to eat and drink 
withal, eyes to see withal, ears to hear withal, and 
a heart to flirt withal. If I had these, I would get 
on in Rome very well. As it is, I sigh for Lafa^^ette 
Square the liehen langen Tag. 

An extract from a letter to Nicolay adds two or 
three touches to Hay's travel notes. 

^ Clarence King's health — and fortunes — had broken down. 
Mr. Adams took him to the West Indies. 

2 King had been planning a treatise on viscosity, of which he be- 
lieved he had discovered the principles. 



io6 JOHN HAY 

To J. G. Nicolay 

Rome, Jan. 26, 1894. 
. . . The younger children are estabUshed at a 
sort of school-family at the Chateau D. . . . about 
an hour from Paris, the residence of the Marquise 
de S. D., a lady in reduced circumstances, with a fine 
place which she is unable to keep up without outside 
help. She has a large family of daughters — the 
older ones teach the younger — and the thing seems 
to be going on very well. . . . 

To Henry Adams 

Rome, February 5, 1894. 
Since I wrote you last, nothing has happened to 
me, save that, impelled thereunto by a daughter who 
cares more for her amusement than my repose, I have 
been to court and made a leg to the Queen. I do not 
know how I acquitted myself, but trust that, in imi- 
tating as well as I could remember the reverences 
I have seen you and King make to the beautiful and 
the great in H Street, 1603, I did you no discredit. 
Her Majesty was very gracious — and afterwards 
expressed herself in regard to my family in language 
I have carefully kept secret from my wife and daugh- 
ter for fear they should shake me and "go off with 
a handsomer man" from mere considerations of 
homogeneity. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 107 

Rome is a hopeless job. We have been here nearly 
a month, and have scarcely as yet nibbled the edges 
of the things one ought to do. De guerre lasse we have 
given it up, and are going to Naples in a few days, 
Stillman ^ told me the other day that in a dozen 
years of Rome he had not seen it, and had also 
chucked up the job. The present regime, I admit, is 
making the sight-seeing business easier year by year, 
destroying the picturesque old town, and building 
a cheap and nasty imitation of Paris on the ground. 
But they are too late for me. There is still enough 
Rome left to put me in my little grave, if I undertook 
to see and understand it. 

We buried poor C. W. last Wednesday in the 
Protestant Cemetery, laying her down in her first 
and last resting-place — a thoroughly good, and 
most unhappy woman, with a great talent, bedeviled 
by disordered nerves. She did much good, and 
no harm in her life, and had not as much happiness 
as a convict. 

Florence, Italy, Europe, 
March 9, 1894, a.d. 

My Angelical Doctor: — 

It is sinful to think of your having such a good 
time in the tropics without me. I presume you have 
not endossed a dress coat since Tahiti. nimium 

_^^W. J. Stillman, Rome correspondent of the London Times. 



io8 JOHN HAY 

fortunatiis! Perhaps you have shed the frivolity of 
dress entirely and reverted to the buff of your Po- 
mare-nian ancestors. At all events you are having 
too good a time to suit me. With the gradual pro- 
gress of age I have lost all my vices and most of my 
passions, but envy still survives, and the thought of 
you and King enjoying the subtropical days and 
nights of the Great Antilles is too much for me. 

My annals, since I last wrote to you, are appro- 
priately short and simple. We went back to Rome for 
a fortnight after Paestum and Sorrento . . . and 
found the Yankee colony standing on its little head 
about the departure of Potter and the arrival of 
MacVeagh.-^ It is a loyal little colony, and likewise 
fond of a diet of toads. It wanted to be sorry 
Potter was going and to be glad MacVeagh was 
coming, and its perfectly sincere efforts to weep with 
one side of its mouth, and laugh with the other, were 
very touching. We had a big dinner at which both 

the diplomats made good speeches. Baron 

was of a comic unspeakable trying to talk English, 

and later in the evening , who was far gone 

with the rosy God, asked me if I ever met a friend 
of his, a Colonel Lincoln, who wrote a life of Et- 
cetera. 

^ William Potter was replaced by Wayne MacVeagh as Ambas- 
sador to Italy. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 109 

And so your old friend Gladstone ^ has had to 
throw up the sponge at last in his bout with Chronos 
the Slasher. We are all growing old except Grover ^ 
and the Mugwumps ; they will remain eternally about 
nine years old — nine or eight and a half. 

Dresden, 27 March, 1894. 

Enrique de mi Alma : — 

If you keep to the plan referred to in your esteemed 
favor of the 27th February, which has just reached 
me, you will be nearing your refined Christian home 
in Lafayette Square about these days. Your letter 
was a great comfort. The slight tribulations you met 
with on your way to your earthly Paradise only 
whetted your appetite for the tranquil pleasures you 
found in your cafetal. The fleeting and evanescent 
ewig weibliche is far better hoped for than attained — 
so I do not waste any sympathy on you-alls on that 
account. 

To be a month away from an American newspaper 
is as near an approach to the bliss of Nirvana as 
you have any right to expect in this world. The 
domestic divinity under whose gentle tyranny I 
groan takes in the New York Herald of Paris, an 
American paper, with French worthlessness added, 

^ Gladstone retired from his last premiership on March 3, 1894. 
* President Grover Cleveland. 



no JOHN HAY 

which is filled with idiotic laud of the New York 
Herald of New York and Grover Cleveland, a stout 
gentleman who, I believe, is a neighbor and friend of 
yours in Washington, with occasional references to 
the deputy omniscience of one C. Nordhoff.^ It is al- 
most more than I can stand. 

Nothing has happened since I last wrote to you. 
We have driven in cabs through several towns. 
We have smelt incense in many churches. We have 
gazed on several acres of spoiled canvas and seen 
some good pictures. Bologna and Verona and Perugia 
were very remunerative, and I was almost tempted 

to buy the Palace in Venice, as I hear Mrs. 

has quarrelled with her poet-sculptor-painter 

husband, and wants to sell him out of house and 
home. But the common sense of my wife, as usual, 
prevailed. She says Washington is less damp for my 
rheumatic shoulder; and doubts if you would come 
to Venice. 

Paris, April 25, 1894. 

My dearest Taura : — 

Your letter from Tampa, informing me that you 
had once more reintegrated yourself under the flag, 
arrived this morning and gave me a happy day. It 
gave me courage and strength to go through the 
Champ de Mars Salon, with its wilderness of impres- 
^ Charles Nordhofif, editor of the New York Herald. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS in 

slons and nudities, and dirty-looking portraits of 
Frenchmen smoking the cigarette. Why they cannot 
paint a Frenchman doing something else — blowing 
his nose, combing his hair, or performing some other 
natural function — puzzles me. Even a Frenchman 
must do other things occasionally. On the whole, the 
show is a poor one, distinctly below those of former 
years. 

The Salon of the Champs Elysees opens Tuesday, 
and on Wednesday we skip for London, having 
seen more pictures than in any previous year of our 
little lives. 

I do not write long letters for the same reason that 
I see nobody, and do not talk. I am filled to the lips 
with the amari aliquid of age and infirmities. If I 
talked or wrote, I would talk or write about myself 
which is a loathly subject. Perhaps I will get better 
one of these days — and younger, — and then I may 
again be company for the unexacting. At present I 
am a bore from Boresville. 

... I see Gladstone's return to sanity the moment 
he got out of ofifice has not escaped your eagle eye. 
Per contra, the moment the cynical and clever Rose- 
bery gets into the chair, he begins to make a fool of 
himself. His speech in the House of Lords giving 
Home Rule the grand bounce, was an incredible le- 
gerete — all the worse because it was true and logical. 



112 JOHN HAY 

What right has a Prime Minister to fool in public 
with truth and logic? 

... I shall read of the progress of Coxey's army ^ 
with new interest now that I know you are in Wash- 
ington. Perhaps they will spare my house because it 
adjoins yours. You, of course, are known through- 
out the country as a Democrat and an Anarchist 
and an Unemployed. Your house will be safe any- 
how; so you might as well stand on my steps while 
the army passes, and shout for " Chaos and Coxey " 
like a man. I hope you won't fare like Tailhade, the 
Anarchist poet, who porter-ed a toast to Vaillant 
(" Q'Li 'importent qiielques vagues humanites pourvu que 
le geste soil beau I"), and a little while after, sitting in 
the Cafe Foyot with a lady-friend, was blown up by a | 
bomb. 

London, June 9, 1894. 

. . . Next, let me congratulate you on your Loubat 
prize. It is good money, and the old Duke will be de- 
lighted that it has gone into hands so worthy. Don't 
spend it till I get home, and we will paint the horizon 
crimson with it. The only wonder is that Columbia 
College could have done so evidently sensible a 
thing. 

1 Coxey, a labor agitator, undertook to lead an army of "un- 
employed" from the Middle West to the lawn of the White House. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 113 

We spent a pleasant day at Cambridge yesterday 
. . . and got home in time to make ourselves beautiful 
for the Court Ball at Buckingham Palace. You ought 
to have seen me! My wife and Helen looked rather 
handsome, but the old man! Great Scott! je ne vous 
dis que ga! . . . M . swore that he would have me ko- 
daked in my clothes, so that I would never dare to 
run for President — from which it was easy to see 
what was preying on his mind. 

You may thank your stars you were not in London 
when Ladas won the Derby. They ate, drank and 
dreamed nothing else for twenty-four hours. They 
are a dear and simple folk, in some ways — these 
English. 

London, June 19, 1894. 
My Onliest: — 

... I got yours of the 8th last night at midnight, as 
I returned from the dinner of the Fishmongers, 
stuffed with turtle and spiced meats, drenched in 
loving-cup and Bayard's eloquence. How our Am- 
bassador does go it when he gets a big roomful of 
bovine Britons in front of him! He knocks them all 
silly. I never so clearly appreciated the power of the 
unhesitating orotundity of the Yankee speech, as in 
listening — after an hour or two of hum-ha of tongue- 
tied British men — to the long wash of our Ambassa- 
dor's sonority. 



114 JOHN HAY 

A fortnight later the Hays landed in New York, 
and found that Mr. Adams was planning a camping 
trip in the Yellowstone, and expecting Hay and 
Del to join him. 

Cleveland, O., July 14, 1894. 

Your letter of yesterday has this moment arrived. 
I will try to do the things that Billy Hofer ordains, 
but would fain leave some of them to be done further 
west. The bed business, for example. I cannot lug 
my bed across a continent. Certainly there must be 
a place nearer the geysers where a bed can be pro- 
cured by the unstinted use of money. 

And the guns! B., who is a hardened sportsman, 
says there is not a bird west of St. Louis; that a 
shot-gun will be of no use except for purposes of 
suicide. I mentioned a rifle, and he said it would be 
of use, to shoot at a mark. 

Fishing tackle! Del never cast a fly in his life, and 
I could as soon think of dancing a serpentine. 

Hay was not a sportsman, neither did he like 
roughing it after the novelty had worn off. But Mr. 
Adams's companionship was always the best to him, 
and he never lost his love of nature. The next letters 
are to his wife, just before the party went into the 
wilds. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 115 

To Mrs. Hay 

Grand Canon Hotel, 
Thursday, July 26, 1894. No. i. 

I do not know that I ever saw a day so stuffed full 
of natural beauty and grandeur as yesterday. We 
started early and went to that part of the Grand 
Canon which is called by the idiotic name of "In- 
spiration Point," a name by which the finest view of 
Yosemite and other places is disfigured. It is a rock 
which juts out over the Cafion and gives a wonderful 
sweep of view both ways. A strong wind came up 
while we were there and we had to hold on by our 
teeth and toes to keep from blowing away. Before 
we left, a lot of lady tourists came and they had to be 
held on by the guides. Even two hats went sailing 
gracefully down into the chasm a thousand feet be- 
low. All around were those brilliant-colored crags 
and walls you see in Moran's picture in the Capitol. 
Halfway down we saw an eagle's nest with two great 
eagles sitting quietly at home with their family. After 
we had stayed there some time we walked slowly up 
towards the Falls, stopping at every favorable point 
of view; the scene changed every moment, giving 
new aspects of beauty and magnificence. When at 
last we got to Lookout Point, the full glory of the 
Falls burst upon us. They are just twice as high as 



Ii6 JOHN HAY 

Niagara, and the "setting" of them is immensely 
bigger and grander. You cannot imagine anything 
grander than the red, yellow and green rocks of the 
vast canon and the quiet background of the green- 
wooded mountains. 

In the afternoon I stayed at home and Del and 
Hallett Phillips went off for trout. Del went as a 
spectator and pupil. They came back in a few hours. 
I heard the family whistle under my window and 
looking out saw Del carrying a splendid load of big 
trout, some speckled and some rainbow! which re- 
appeared a little while after on the dinner table. 

We have not come to the "roughing it" as yet. I 

do not know how long it is delayed. The hotels so far 

are excellent — but in the depth of woe on account 

of there being nobody in the Park. Last year the 

panic, this year D ; there is no end to their 

troubles. 

Yellowstone Park Hotel, 
July 26, 1894. No. 2. 

I do not know when you will get this or in what 
condition these flowers will be when they arrive. But 
they are so sweet and fragrant that I must send you 
one or two. The white one is phlox and the pink are 
yarrow. 

This is another wonderfully beautiful place. The 
great Yellowstone Lake lies just in front of us, and 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 117 

beyond it is a chain of magnificent mountains. We 
left the Grand Cafion after lunch to-day. Just as we 
were leaving, an unmistakeable English couple ar- 
rived: a gawky, aristocratic-looking man in knicker- 
bockers and a young woman, blond as wheat and 
awfully sunburned, the English "Mees" of French 
farce. The proprietor of the hotel ran after us to say 
it was Mr. and Mrs. R. W. The drive here was de- 
lightful; about three hours. Our road ran beside the 
Yellowstone River all the way, a clear, tranquil 
stream, which gave no hint of the terror and mag- 
nificence of the fate that awaited it a little farther on. 
In one place we saw dozens of enormous trout play- 
ing near the bank. In another a big flock of wild geese 
were walking along. They calmly stepped into the 
water and swam away as we came up. Half way here 
we came to the most hideous and dreadful sight I 
ever saw, the Mud Volcano. We heard it grumbling 
and coughing before we got there, but when we ap- 
proached it, no words can describe the horror and 
fascination of the sight. To think that for ages and 
ages that hideous throat is expectorating that red 
sea of mud every other second. 

On coming out of the Yellowstone, Mr. Adams 
went to Seattle and Vancouver, while Hay rejoined 
his family at the Fells. 



Ii8 JOHN HAY 

To Whitelaw Reid 

Newbury, N.H., Sept. lo, 1894. 

I got here a day or two ago after two months in the 
Rocky Mountains, which were to me exceedingly 
amusing and instructive. We were most of the time 
out of any possible communication with the world 
by mail or telegraph. We lived mostly on fish and 
game of our own purveying, and lived well. The 
regime grew intolerable after a while. I had not been 
able to send a line to my family nor get one from 
them from the 28th of July to the 3d of September — 
the longest lacune of the sort in my history. We rode 
five hundred miles on horseback through trackless 
wildernesses, and felt as remote and friendless as 
Grover Cleveland in Washington. 

To Henry Adams 

Newbury, N.H., Oct. 10, 1894. 

Our house is dismantled — we are sitting among 
the ruins waiting for the train which is to take us to 
Cleveland via Boston. The autumn has been very 
gorgeous, and to-day, for the first time, the wind and 
rain are stripping the trees of their goodly raiment, 
as if they were Viceroys who had lost a battle. 

We had King here for one day, and then, of course, 
a telegram came, clamoring for him to go to New 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 119 

York to see an exigent millionaire. He was in fine 
form, cheerier than I have seen him for several years, 
— full of schemes, all of them brilliant, not to say iri- 
descent, in promise. I was glad to see him hopeful 
again, with, or without, reason. 

Cleveland, O., Oct. 27, 1894. 
Dear Taura: — 

I have never known a more gabby campaign. Elo- 
quence overflows the legitimate stump and slops the 
sidewalk. J stop sometimes and listen to the gutter 
Ciceros. They are talking finances to the best of their 
lungs. Free trade and single-tax have the call. J. 
seems to have hired dirty orators by the dozens to 
blather on street corners. Most of the working men 
are idle, so that there is always an audience. He is an 
amusing caricature of the classic demagogue with a 
dash of T. cynicism. ... If I had the bounding 
youth and literary vitality of a Tahiti chief, I would 
make a story about him, and get back the money I 
blow in, every two years, in vain, against him. 

I went to see R. the other day to say good-bye 
before he sails for Algiers. He is in the evil case, I 
fear — though a momentary improvement just now 
has cheered up his wife and himself. King and Bishop 
Potter were of the party, so we were very gay and 
worldly. Potter and I went off together, as he was 



120 JOHN HAY 

going to Hartford and I to New Haven, and when we 
got to our station (Rye), we found that King had not 
only eloped to White Plains with Mrs. Potter, but 
had also carried off the Episcopalian trunk, with all 
the robes, chasubles and stoles which were to dazzle 
the Hartford faithful. 

1 found Del on the playing fields of Yale,^ engaged 
in deadly combat, with a face blackened with dirt 
and toil, and tangled hair, and garments ragged 
with onset. He seems to be in good enough shape, 
though mathematics make life as gloomy to him as it 
was to me, for the same cause. 

Washington, Feb. 6, 1895. 
Your party wallows still in the trough of the sea. 
Cleveland's recommendations to Congress are like 
wisdom crying in the streets — no man regardeth 
him. My party is nearly as much embarrassed by its 
victory as is yours by its defeat. Here the Reed ^ 
men are worse afraid of McKinley than of the devil, 
and more anxious to beat him. In New York the 
good people are scared out of their wits for fear Piatt 
should do something they would like, so that they 
never make up their mind till he moves, and then 

» Adalbert Hay entered Yale this autumn in the Class of 1898. 

2 Friends of Speaker T. B. Reed, who hoped he would be the 
Republican nominee for the Presidency. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 121 

they jump like sheep for the other thing. Tammany 
will come back in a year or two with an outfit of 
sevenfold deviltry. Don ^ is quite nervous about 
Pennsylvania; he thinks there is a chance of losing 
the State, in spite of its quarter-million majority. 
So you may be ready for another big swing of the 
pendulum. 

Everybody seems to admit there will be no finan- 
cial legislation this session. Perhaps Cleveland will 
call an extra session — but I doubt it. They can rub 
along through summer with one or two loans. 

Newbury, N.H., June 14, 1895. 

To the most excellent Taura Atua, Chief of Amo, 
in his palace in the City of George the Truth Teller, 
these words, greeting, from his grovelling slave, un- 
worthiest of his vassals, Jock, the Tenderfoot: — 

I reached New York without incident, and saw 
King, w^ho was too busy to talk to me much, being 
engaged in the same futile pursuit of elusive wealth 
which has been for years so distressing a sight for his 
friends. He admitted he had made nothing but his 
expenses in the long and dismal winter's work in 
Oregon and Washington, but still hopes something 
might come of it. . . . He has written another ap- 
palling bit of physics for the Journal of Science, which 
^ J. D. Cameron. 



122 JOHN HAY 

he says lays over the "Age of the World," out of 
sight; and still believes he will write the Magnum 
Opus if he can make money enough to be idle three 
years. 

We had an uneventful journey up here, Helen and 
I, and found the rest of the family on the railway 
platform, with a fresh and cultivated air of Boston 
about them. Our sky and air leave nothing to be de- 
sired, but I foresee that I shall miss your afternoon 
visit, and shall go sadly astray without your words of 
wisdom. 

. . . What a dull old man I am ! I even lack words 
to tell you how I miss you. 

Newbury, N.H., June 27, 1895. 
My dear Taura : — 

Well, go your ways, have a good time on sea and 
land. My wife has just received a letter from Lady 
C. saying they are established in R., with a bache- 
lor room for you, and already looking forward to 
the pleasure of seeing you. And I suppose the pa- 
pers to-day will tell us of M. V.'s added greatness. 
It is curious what a step C. made in marrying. Last 
year he was never thought of for Cabinet rank — 
now it is a matter of course. All England feels that 
in marrying an heiress, he has merited well of the 
Patrie. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 123 

The whole house sends love and good wishes to 
you. It is raining outside and we have a bright fire 
blazing in the room. Clarence and Nip are toasting 
their brains on the hearth-rug. My wife is embroid- 
ering. Helen and Alice are making a futile song at 
the piano, which they will never have the energy to 
write and score, — and I am, so far as so venerable 
an impostor can be anything, 

Yours affectionately. 

To Whitelaw Reid 

Newbury, N.H., August 4, 1895. 

. . . We are living a curious vegetable life here. It 
suits elderly folks like Mrs. Hay and me very well. I 
am afraid my children are getting old enough to kick 
at the solitude, but they are kept more or less con- 
tented b}^ relays of their friends. I listen to their 
clamor, and reflect that, after all, the world is still 
young. But I am sure that you and I were never so 
young as the boys of to-day. The riddle of the pain- 
ful world suggested itself to us earlier and more 
imperatively. The fellows who came of age in the 
Lincoln year were forced to look at life in wider as- 
pects than the Sophomores of to-day. 

I feel as though I should not look at anything much 
longer. I am getting a very bad pair of eyes on me. 



124 JOHN HAY 

That is another reason for wanting to see you before 
the curtain drops. 

To Henry Adams 

Newbury, N.H., Sept. 3, 1895. 
QUERIDO DE MI AlMA: — 

. . . Time goes by imperceptibly in indolence and 
solitude, and there is nothing to do, or think, or write 
about. I have developed two or three more mortal 
diseases since I came here, and I am going to New 
York next week for vivisection. "But this is not 
journalism," as Johnny McLean ^ would say. 

I have a letter from Whitelaw Reid which is far 
from gay. He is ordered to Tucson for the winter, 
which has to me the sound of the glas funehre. I am 
going to see him, for he has his moribunditude cheer- 
ful, and does not worry his friends except by his 
wheezing, and his pathetic attempt to talk jauntily 
of next year. And yet he may hold the cords at my 
funeral; for did I not sit, with profound emotion, at 
the deathbed of Levi P. Morton, and is he not — at 
the hour which is — all sorts of potentates and possi- 
bilities? There is nothing like being given up by the 
Doctors. It is a certificate of longevity. 

Speaking of longevity, King was coming here, but 
sent instead a long telegram from Council Bluffs, at 
' John R. McLean, proprietor of the Cincinnati Enquirer. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 125 

a ruinous expense, telling me he had to go out to the 
Coast — and would write. He might have written 
at an expense of two cents, and made me much more 
satisfied. But that would have been too simple a pro- 
cedure. Nothing more has been heard of him — he 
has evaded into space. . . . 

And Bil Filips has just left us on his way to Kipling. 
He has been spending his exiguous holiday among 
the Bluenoses and had good fishing with George 
Kennan ^ at Cape Breton. He was gay and jimp, and 
lost very few things on our mountain, and most of 
those he found in his other coat. He was a brilliant 
feature in our otherwise dull landscape, in his stock- 
ings and knickers, and a radical red sash around his 
youthful waist. Mrs. Stone admired him very much 
but could hardly make up her mind whether he was a 
serious pirate or merely a Jesuit in disguise. He gave 
it as his deliberate opinion that this air would be a 
good thing for you, my cherished Taura! and I be- 
lieve it might, if it were not for the mortal dulness I 
am conscious of diffusing about me. 

If you don't hurry back, there won't be a silver 
man in America except you and PefTer,^ and even 
Peffer said in an interview the other day that the jig 
was up. I think Reid and McKinley and Allison 

^ Exposer of the Siberian exile system. 

2 Senator W. A. Peffer, of Kansas, Populist and Silverite. 



126 JOHN HAY 

and Harrison and Morton are all good gold-bugs now. 
A large majority of Democrats have thought they 
were not, but the post-masters and "deppity mar- 
shals" have convinced them that they are, — at 
least, such of them as go to conventions. 

Poor Dupuy de Lome ^ is becoming the target of 
our unbridled and licentious press, because he tries to 
serve his country, and wants ours to obey the laws. 
The Cubans are knocking Campos about like old 
boots, and Yellow Jack is joining in the fun as 
merrily as he knows how. You will have a fine chance 
in Spain to make a revolution, for the whole army will 
be in the ever-faithful Isle by the time you get there. 

Newbury, N.H., Sept. 20, 1895. 

Rudyard Kipling has been here for a day or two. 
How a man can keep up so intense an intellectual life 
without going to Bedlam is amazing. He rattled off 
the frame-work of about forty stories while he was 
with us. One day I was, as an ignorant layman will, 
abusing the sun-myths, and happened to say I ex- 
pected to see " Mary had a little lamb" become one. 
He instantly jumped upon it, and as fast as his tongue 
could wag, he elaborated the myth. It was better 
than anything Andrew Lang ever wrote. He was 

1 Spanish Minister in Washington. Marshal Campos commanded 
the Spanish Army in Cuba. 



LETTERS TO HENRY ADAMS 127 

very bright and pleasant, entertained himself and all 
the rest of us, and made Clarence very happy. 

Mr. Henry Adams accompanied the Lodges to 
Europe, and found himself "for the first time at 
Caen, Coutances, and Mont Saint-Michel in Nor- 
mandy" — a visit out of which grew his extraordin- 
ary interpretation of mediaeval religion and history- 
through Norman art, — a book without a peer. 

Now we must turn to trace the events which led up 
to John Hay's promotion to the sphere of statesman- 
ship. 



CHAPTER XXII 

MAJOR MCKINLEY 

ONE of the wittiest Harvard graduates of the 
last generation, a man of sound counsel and an 
unflagging benefactor of the University, used to say: 
" President Eliot comes to me for my money .and my 
advice; and, as happened to the two women men- 
tioned in the Bible, one is taken and the other is 
left." For many years the Republican managers took 
both John Hay's money and his advice, and hardly 
said ' ' Thank you ' ' for either. This neglect in no way 
cooled his enthusiasm. That he would have liked 
recognition is obvious — who does not? — but, hav- 
ing made loyalty to Republicanism part of his creed, 
he never allowed the omission of others to excuse him 
from his duty. 

This loyalty was proof against his personal prefer- 
ences as to candidates. In 1 884, he supported Blaine, 
whom the Republicans nominated in spite of the 
grave evidence against his integrity. They believed, 
to recall the political phrase of the time, that they 
could "wring one more President out of the Bloody 
Shirt." Blaine's chief function in Congress had been, 
as appears in the retrospect of history, to scold and 



MAJOR McKINLEY 129 

bait and threaten the caged Rebel Brigadiers who sat 
in that body. His prowess in such work earned for 
him the interesting title, "The Plumed Knight." 
His magnetism among the populace rivaled that of 
Henry Clay. The Republican managers were a little 
anxious at symptoms which showed that some of the 
faithful were beginning to look doubtingly at the 
gospel of hide-bound Protection. A genuine demand 
for a reform of the spoils system was also pressing on 
them. So they resorted to the expedient of putting 
up a candidate whose popularity they believed was 
proof against all accusations, and who would remind 
the country that the Democratic was the party of 
Slavery and Rebellion. 

Their attempt to divert attention failed, however, 
for the campaign was fought on the question of 
Blaine's honesty, and he was beaten by the narrow- 
est margin. 

Hay consistently regarded the Cleveland adminis- 
tration with a critical eye. It was bred in his bone to 
feel that the best of Democrats, with the best inten- 
tions, could not bring good to pass; and he looked 
forward to the restoration of Republican prestige 
much as a Crusader might to the recovery of the 
Holy Sepulchre. His friend, Mr. Adams, on the con- 
trary, was a Democrat who watched with a satis- 
faction more than ironical the efforts of President 



130 JOHN HAY 

Cleveland to turn the stream of American polity out 
of the deep channels of Privilege into the open sea of 
Democracy. Mr. Cleveland worked so prosperously 
that he seemed sure of reelection in 1888. But in his 
annual message in the previous December, he boldly 
announced that the high tariff must be done away 
with. Like other great declarations in politics and in 
religion, this was received with the epithets "im- 
pditic," "unnecessary," " indiscreet." The Republi- 
cans saw their chance to make Protection the vital 
issue again, and they took it. They felt sure of win- 
ning with the right candidate; but who would be the 
right candidate? 

The following letter exhibits Hay as adviser to the 
party which neglected him : — 

To Whitelaw Reid 

Washington, March 16, 1888. 

... I am engaged here for a week or two, finishing 
up some important matters, but shall go to New 
York about Easter. But meantime is there no light 
on the situation? If Blaine is irrevocably out, what 
is the matter with Sherman? 

There are three questions: — 

1. Who is the man to get votes and be elected? 

2. Who is the man to make a good President? 

3. Who, beaten, will leave the party in best shape? 



MAJOR Mckinley 131 

It seems to me Sherman is the best possible man 
for the last two points. His lack of magnetism, his 
lack of following, would be worth millions in the 
Presidency, if he were elected. He is thoroughly fit 
for power. Then, if we must be beaten, Sherman is 
the best possible man to be beaten with. It won't 
hurt the party much, and won't hurt him at all. 

The first point is the great one for a nominat- 
ing Convention. You know more about that than I 
can. If you went in for him he could be nominated. 
Could he be elected? 

A more judicial piece of advice could not have 
been given. 

Having attended the Republican Convention, Hay 
sent an amusing letter to Mr. Adams. 

To Henry Adams 

Cleveland, June 25, 1888. 
I have got back alive from Chicago and out of the 
hands of the Greshamites. I sat near Miss Rachel 
Sherman and Walker Blaine and Mr. Piatt, and 
lifted up my voice in shouts for Uncle John,^ but to 
no avail. Benjamin Harrison got there, and I sup- 
pose I must vote for him. I will keep myself up to 
the task by thinking of Cleveland, and occasionally 
reading an editorial in the Nation. 

^ Senator John Sherman. 



132 JOHN HAY 

I dined at Franklin MacVeagh's.^ The new 
house ^ is beautiful beyond words, exquisitely fur- 
nished and adequately lived in. The beautiful 
Honore girls (Mrs. Potter Palmer and Mrs. Fred 
Grant) were there; likewise Frank Bartlett and Mrs. 
Wirt Dexter, — so the air was decidedly Manches- 
ter-by-the-Sea. 

1 also gazed with due reverence at the shop of 
Marshall Field. It is, to use your own elegant phrase, 
a squealer from Squealersville. I went inside and 
had speech of the proprietor. I told him it was nip- 
and-tuck between him and Pittsburg, which had the 
tidiest house in the country. He answered, with the 
large magnanimity of the West: — "Oh, Pittsburg! 
Yes, they say it 's a daisy ! " 

Mr. Harrison was elected President in November. 
While he was preparing to distribute the great offices, 
some one suggested to him the fitness of John Hay. 
"That would be a fine appointment," replied the 
President-elect, "but there is n't any politics in it!" 
An unanswerable reason, indicative of the logic 
which the spoils system forced upon the most logi- 
cal of all the occupants of the White House. Hay 

^ Brother of Wayne. 

2 Designed by H. H. Richardson; so also were Field's depart- 
ment store and the Pittsburg courthouse. 



MAJOR Mckinley 133 

himself did not sulk. The universal good of the cause 
required partial evil to individuals. He completed 
"Lincoln," visited England, and exchanged good- 
natured banter with Mr. Adams. 

Meanwhile, the Republicans in power proceeded 
to illustrate what seems to be the general law of in- 
stitutions which have passed meridian — instead of 
moderating the most offensive and freely acknowl- 
edged excesses of Protection, they drew up a new 
tariff bill in which they not only re-affirmed the 
sacrosanctity of the doctrine, but increased some 
schedules and added others. The measure took the 
name of William McKinley, of Ohio, chairman of the 
House Committee on Ways and Means, and was 
passed in October, 1890. At the congressional elec- 
tions a month later the Republicans were swept 
away by an anti-tariff hurricane. 

When the next presidential year came round the 
Republicans renominated Harrison and the Demo- 
crats Cleveland. Whitelaw Reid, whose unremitted 
presentation of his claims when any office was in 
sight contrasted with Hay's reserve, ran with Har- 
rison. 

These extracts, written before and after the bal- 
loting, reveal scarcely uncontrolled enthusiasm on 
Hay's part. 



134 JOHN HAY 

To Whitelaw Reid 

Cleveland, October 20, 1892. 

. . . Your letter of acceptance is remarkably fine 
and strong. It could not be improved in substance or 
in manner. It gives a perceptible lift to the cam- 
paign. How can any honest or rational man be 
against us this year? And yet I hear of no Mug- 
wumps renouncing the error of their ways. My own 
feeling towards the President is not one of friendship, 
but ... I wish I could feel sure about New York. I 
hoped they would not be so zealous this year as to 
run the risk of State's prison — that was all I ever 
hoped from the malice of Tammany, but I see by the 
Tribune that even that was too much to hope for. 
They are preparing their usual dose of crimes in New 
York, and our reliance, as so often before, must be in 
Heaven and J. D. 

Here a singularly calm campaign is going forward ; 
but I see no reason to doubt we shall give our usual 
majority and get back several Congressmen. If the 
ticket were turned end for end we should do better. 

Port Clinton, O., November 10, 1892. 
... I will not waste words in attempting to express 
my deep chagrin and grief. At present, my chief sor- 
row is that you and Mrs. Reid are not to be our neigh- 



MAJOR McKINLEY 135 

bors in Washington for the next few years. . . . The 
post would rather have wearied you; now you are 
your own man again and are very much more of a 
political quantity than ever before. Of course this is 
under the supposition that the Republican Party can 
survive this rout. I am not sure of that, but there is 
certainly nothing in sight that can take its place. 

Now ensued the most grotesque episode in Amer- 
ican politics. 

If the question had been asked during the third 
quarter of the nineteenth century, "Who is the typi- 
cal American of this period?" a perspicacious ob- 
server might have replied, "Phineas T. Barnum." 
Barnum not only assumed that the people liked to be 
fooled, — that was an ancient discovery, — but he 
also discovered the immense potentiality of adver- 
tising. And he demonstrated in his Great Moral 
Show that it made little difference what the object 
was — woolly horse, anaconda, or the elephant 
Jumbo — so long as it was effectively advertised. 
Imitating him, later promoters have made almost 
anything go — from cherry pectoral to garters, and 
from breakfast food to "best-seller" fiction. 

It happened that in Ohio there flourished a cap- 
tain of industry — Marcus Alonzo Hanna — who 
had amassed a large fortune as a wholesale grocer 



136 JOHN HAY 

and coal operator. He knew from experience the 
value of publicity. He had no doubt that on the 
continuance in power of the Republican Party, with 
its loyalty to Protection, depended the welfare of the 
Republic. After the collapse in 1890, Mr. Hanna, who 
had previously taken little active part in politics, 
decided that the Republic must be saved by securing 
the election in 1892 of a flawless champion of Pro- 
tection. Looking over the field, he decided that 
Major William McKinley was the man. 

The Major, born in 1843, enlisted in the Civil War 
when he was only eighteen years old and received his 
brevet as major for gallantry in battle. After the 
war, he practised law at Canton, Ohio; went into 
Congress in 1876, and stayed there for fourteen 
years, when the Democrats defeated him by gerry- 
mandering his district. As Congressman he was 
what is called "a. worker." He looked after the in- 
terests, not only of his constituents, but of Protec- 
tionists all over the country, and enjoyed the honor 
of giving his name to the high-tariff measure which 
wrought the disaster of 1890. McKinley was not a 
politician of intellectual force. Although he made a 
thousand speeches in behalf of Protection, no econ- 
omist would go to him for ideas. He had the art, 
however, of throwing a moral gloss over policies 
which were dubious, if not actually immoral, and this 



MAJOR McKINLEY 137 

he did with a sort of self-deceiving sincerity. For he 
seems to have held that whatever platform the party 
adopted must receive the immediate and unques- 
tioning acceptance of all the faithful, of whom he 
counted himself one. So unspotted was his Republi- 
canism that he might be regarded at any given mo- 
ment as the resultant of the preferences of the differ- 
ent sets in the party. His transcending quality was 
his good-nature. With him the politician you might 
disagree and quarrel, but with him the man you were 
friends. He was kindly, willing, cheerful, forgiving. 
Like Mr. Barnum he knew the potency of words. 
Even when the United States were engaged in wip- 
ing out certain tribes of recalcitrant Filipinos, the 
Major announced that we were bent on ''benevolent 
assimilation." 

Mark Hanna displayed courage in taking up the 
Major so soon after the defeat which the McKinley 
Bill had brought upon the party; but he knew the 
Major's qualifications, among which was his popu- 
larity in Ohio, which might have won for him the 
nomination in 1888 if he had consented. Hanna 
would have run McKinley in 1892, but he recog- 
nized that he must respect the claims of President 
Harrison, who hankered after a second term. When 
Harrison was defeated, Hanna began to work in 
earnest. With the Major elected Governor of Ohio, 



138 JOHN HAY 

the campaign seemed to open propitiously: but 
his sudden plunging into bankruptcy would have 
brought consternation to a backer less resolute 
than Hanna. According to report, McKinley had 
endorsed an acquaintance's note for over $100,000, 
the acquaintance had failed, and the endorser stood 
to lose. It did not require Hanna's wits to see that 
no amount of hippodroming could save a presiden- 
tial candidate who had been through the bankruptcy 
court: the Democrats would need only to paper the 
country with facsimiles of his signature to the poor 
debtor's oath. So Mr. Hanna called upon a selected 
list of Republicans to contribute enough money to 
pay the Major's way to solvency. Some gave be- 
cause they admired McKinley, others because he 
had served them in Congress, others again because 
they wanted to save the party from unedifying crit- 
icisms. Among the subscribers to the ransom was 
John Hay. 

Thenceforward, the McKinley "boom" flour- 
ished. It was wonderful to note the enthusiasm with 
which the Southern Republican delegates experienced 
an irresistible impulse to vote for McKinley; equally 
wonderful to see the spontaneity with which hard- 
ened practical politicians discovered, on searching 
their hearts, that he, and he alone was the candidate 
who could satisfy their highest aspirations. Just as 



MAJOR Mckinley 139 

the circus king used to placard the fences and barns 
of the Atlantic States with marvelous posters bear- 
ing the announcement, "Wait for Barnum," so 
Mark Hanna sprinkled through the press of the coun- 
try seductive references to the Major. The patriotic 
voter was warned not to give his vote prematurely 
— for McKinley was coming. 

Mark Hanna's biographer tells us that little record 
remains of the methods employed — nothing, in 
fact, which shows that Mr. Hanna spent money. He 
was no speaker, and yet something about him talked 
so persuasively that long before the convention met 
he had secured a large majority of delegates over 
McKinley 's nearest competitor, Speaker Thomas B. 
Reed. And there can be as little question of the 
Major's personal popularity as of the willingness of 
all those who came under Hanna's influence to re- 
gard it as a duty to vote for him. Every one who be- 
lieved in Protection must rally to support the em- 
bodiment of that policy. 

The development of the country since the Civil 
War might be regarded, as I remarked earlier, as a 
process of the creation and accumulation of wealth 
to an unexampled amount. The ultimate question 
was, — Who should own that wealth, how should it 
be distributed? Should it build up a plutocracy or a 
democracy? The suspicion grew that the people 



140 JOHN HAY 

were not getting their share in the distribution of 
capital. The election of Cleveland indicated a gen- 
eral discontent. The rise of Populism after 1890 
brought forward the advocates of bizarre or half- 
baked economic projects. One of these was the be- 
lief that the free coinage of silver would enable the 
poor man, by an unexplained jugglery, to transfer 
into his own pocket some of the wealth of the rich 
man. 

This heresy infected Republicans and Democrats 
as well as the avowed Populists; and the Major, true 
to his instinct for summing up the various elements 
in the Republican Party, gave it a polite attention. 
This was the only anxiety which troubled Hanna 
during the last part of the canvass. He himself, as 
capitalist and financier, preferred gold; but he re- 
garded Protection as of primary importance. If 
worse came to worst, tariff duties could be paid in 
silver as fruitfully as in gold and the protected in- 
dustries would still thrive; but if there were no tariff, 
what would become of the protected industries? So 
open-minded were both Hanna and the Major that 
they left it for the Convention to decide whether 
the candidate should stand on a gold or a silver 
plank. 

This brief and admittedly imperfect outline may 
serve to trace the transition which took place in 



MAJOR Mckinley 141 

the Republican Party during the promotion of Mc- 
Kinley's candidacy. Hay watched Hanna's venture 
in hippodroming, much as a retired manager forty 
years eadier may have watched Barnum's efforts to 
capture the pubHc with a new and strange attrac- 
tion. Hay apparently preferred McKinley, for he 
wrote Mr. Adams on October 25, 1895: "I think 
McKinley is much ' forrider ' than a few months ago. 
The faithful think Foraker is pulling straight, and 
there are anguilles sous roches that betoken an early 
coUapseof other booms." ^ Hay could hardly foresee 
however, that the rest of his career was bound up in 
McKinley's success. 

Another menace besides Free Silver alarmed the 
conservatives of both parties during that winter. At 
the end of 1895, President Cleveland, almost with- 
out warning, hurled a defiant message at Great Brit- 
ain, which had long been bickering with Venezuela 
over their common frontier. The President declared 
that England must arbitrate, and that the United 
States would uphold the Monroe Doctrine against 
all comers. The country stood breathless, convinced 
that this meant war. Hay wrote to his brother-in- 
law, Mr. Samuel Mather: "You are dead right. It is 

^ General Joseph B. Foraker was another Ohio aspirant. The 
allusion to the "eels under the rocks" seems to imply that Hanna's 
intrigues were beginning to tell. 



142 JOHN HAY 

incumbent on all sane men to be very careful how 
far they commit themselves to the support of one in 
so disturbed state of mind as the President at this 
moment. The man who could write so headlong a 
message, and follow it a few days later with that 
panicky cry for help from Congress — and then al- 
low Carlisle to say that no help was needed, is a 
most unsafe guide to follow." (December 31, 1895.) 

The British did not desire war, and there was no 
war; but the Monroe Doctrine remained, like a vol- 
cano suddenly thrust up in mid-ocean athwart the 
paths of half the world's ambitions. 

Never disposed to join in factional wrangles. Hay 
spent the summer of the campaign in Europe. The 
following extract introduces another subject — the 
Cuban insurrection, which Marshal Weyler was en- 
deavoring to suppress. 

To Henry Adams 

Washington, April 17, 1896. 
To you, O Globe Trotter, light of my lonely soul, 
to whom all wisdom is an open scroll, and to whom 
Truth is as easy as Sin : — Health and Prosperity. 

With your usual unmerited luck you have got 
Upper-deck room E, per Teutonic, May 20, while I, 
merely because I am righteous and provident, stew 
and stifle in a far forward kennel on the deck below. 



MAJOR Mckinley 143 

But a time will come — Tremblez, tyrans ! when an 
outraged proletariat will have reason of your luxury 
and pride. 

We are much the same. We and Maceo ^ larruped 
los Senores Espanoles at La Chuza — which it would 
have done your insurgent heart good to see it. Wey- 
ler has been complaining all along that we would n't 
stop and fight with him. So, just by way of a friendly 
accommodation — not to spoil sport — Maceo at- 
tacked the Alfonso Trece regiment and drove it seven 
miles into the sea under cover of a gunboat. And 
even yet Weyler does not seem happy. 

During Hay's stay in England, however, he took 
care to enlighten the British public as to McKinley's 
prospects and deserts, and he used his personal influ- 
ence to renew the friendly relations between England 
and the United States which had been wrenched by 
President Cleveland's Message on the Venezuela 
Boundary dispute. 

On June 7, 1896, Hay writes from Paris to his wife 
in Washington an account of his brief stay in London. 
At a dinner-party, he says: — 

"E. was placed between Joseph Chamberlain and 
Sir William Harcourt, and had a very merry time. 
Old Sir W. flirted with her in his most elephantine 

^ Cuban insurrectionist. 



144 JOHN HAY 

manner, and occasionally he and C. would fight 
across her, on politics, in a very savage though cour- 
teous manner. It was a chance that a girl of her age 
rarely gets to see the greatest politicians of the time 
in their hours of ease. 

"After dinner, in the smoking-room, I sat between 
Lord C. and Chamberlain, and had some very inter- 
esting talk with each of them. My talk with Cham- 
berlain was especially important. I was urging him 
to have the Venezuela question settled before Mc- 
Kinley came in, and he said they were doing all they 
could, but that Venezuela would not treat separately 
now that she had been encouraged so by the United 
States. He hopes that both countries may agree to 
arbitration. 

"My letter to the Times appears to have been 
read more than anything I ever wrote. Everybody 
I meet speaks of it — most with approval, but some 
thinking I am wrong in being so sure of McKinley's 
nomination. S. and the Herald have greatly influ- 
enced people's minds against McKinley. But next 
week will show them. In fact, the little Herald of 
this morning virtually gives it up. 

"The Chronicle was after me for several days for 
an interview. I fought it off till the last day, and 
then concluded I might as well say a good word for 
McKinley. I inclose it to you. It is wrong in many 



MAJOR Mckinley 145 

particulars, but the general impression is all right. 
I did it to reach the immense Radical constituency 
of the Chronicle. It is Henry Norman's paper." 

On returning to London, after a rapid trip through 
France and North Italy to Venice, Hay caught up 
with the latest political news from home. His letters 
to Mr. Adams now are more bantering than ever, 
because Mr. Adams, like Senator Cameron, was a 
"silver man." 

On July 26, Hay writes from Brown's Hotel, 
London : — 

To Henry Adams 

One more human being I have seen, if it is proper 
to call an argento-maniac human. Moreton Frewen ^ 
bore down on me in St. James's Street, looking very 
well and prosperous, and grasped me by the hand, 
and told me to put all my money on Bryan; that it 
was a walk-over; that betting on Bryan was simply 
picking up money. The cause of his rapture was that 
he had just read that the Goldbug Democrats were 
going to nominate another candidate. It is a good 
working theory, I suppose, that the more candidates 
a party has, the surer it is to win, but I am too old 
and feeble to follow the argument. . . . All right! I 

^ At that time the most conspicuous British advocate of bimetal- 
lism. 



146 JOHN HAY 

have lived under many sorts of Presidents in my 
time, and I can even stand a Boy Orator; but unless 
he can show a left hind foot of a snow-white rabbit 
killed in the dark of the moon by a black dog I am 
not going to waste my money betting on him. 

To Mrs. Hay he sent further news of his last days 
in London : — 

H. M. S. Teutonic, July 31, 1896. 

Monday I called at the Embassy. Mr. Bayard 
was away, and Robert Roosevelt asked me if I would 
like to go to the House of Commons, where he had 
an engagement to meet General G. I accepted with 
alacrity, and went down at once. He got us excellent 
seats in the front row of the gallery. We heard the 
questions and answers, and then heard speeches by 
Labouchere, Curzon, and Harcourt on the Uganda 
Bill, which were extremely interesting. Roosevelt 
then told me Sir Wm. Harcourt and Balfour ^ both 
wanted to see us. So we went to Harcourt' s room 
(he has a room to himself as leader of the Opposition) 
and saw him and Balfour for a few minutes. It 
turned out that they had nothing to say to G. (not 
knowing him), but both were anxious to talk to me 
about McKinley and Venezuela. I had a talk with 
1 Mr. Balfour was then First Lord of the Treasury. 



MAJOR Mckinley 147 

Balfour, and Sir Wm. made an appointment with me 
at B.'s for the next day. He went at once into the 
matter. Balfour had told him nearly every word I 
had said, and he had remembered it all. These Eng- 
lish public men have wonderful memories. We had a 
talk of an hour of great interest and importance. He 
thinks the Venezuela matter ought to be settled now. 
He asked me to say to Chamberlain and Curzon what 
I had said to him. He thought it would do a great 
deal of good. 

In urging British public men to settle the Vene- 
zuela dispute as soon as possible. Hay was perform- 
ing a patriotic duty; for he warned them not to 
expect that a Republican administration would dis- 
avow President Cleveland's stand in the matter. 

From the steamer, as he neared home, he wrote 
another amusing letter to Mr. Adams. 

To Henry Adams 

H. M. S. Teutonic, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 1896. 

The days have been gray and muggy ; the air clasps 
you like an affectionate devil-fish. The boat is filled 
with highly respectable New York Democrats who 
say they are going to vote for McKinley, and then go 
below and are sick at the thought of it. Poor things! 
I am sorry for them — I, who would die for Mc- 



148 JOHN HAY 

Kinley and the Old Flag. Why can't they vote for 
him and like it? . . . 

At the Embassy in London there was the same 
wail of despair. Bayard ^ was away, but R. and W. 
and C. were howling for McKinley, at the same time 
feeling that they were periling their souls' salvation 
by it. Mr. Bryan has much to answer for, driving 
so many great and good people into the support of 
Anti-Christ. 

On the other hand, whisper it soft and low, a good 
many worthy Republicans are scared blue, along of 
the Baby Orator of the Platte. Even my sanguine 
G. was far from chortling when I saw him in London. 
I am still cheerful, but even in my dauntless ear there 
murmurs the fragment of an old Saga which says: 
" In politics the appeal to the lower motives is gen- 
erally for the moment successful." What if the 
Baby Demosthenes should get in with this pro- 
gramme: Free silver; abolition of Supreme Court; 
abolition of national banks ; confiscation of railroads 
and telegraphs! Add to this such trifles as making 
Debs Attorney- General, and you or Brooks Secretary 
of State! 

Please buy me a house in Surrey, and a couple of 
palaces in Venice — name of Bryan Debs Smith, if 
you please. It is well to be ready for contingencies. 
^ Thomas F. Bayard, American Ambassador in London. 



MAJOR McKINLEY 149 

But shadows avaunt! We are going to elect the 
Major if it takes a leg — and then you will all be 
happy, even the perverse and the fro ward. . . . 

I have been reading Shelley. He seems to have had 
a certain faculty of writing verse. If it had not been 
for that, he would have made a good candidate for 
the Presidency. 

During Hay's absence, the Republican Conven- 
tion met at St. Louis and Mr. Hanna produced Mr. 
McKinley, who was nominated on the first ballot. 
The platform, thanks to the efforts of some Eastern 
delegates, declared in favor of a gold standard. At 
Chicago, three weeks later, the Democrats nominated 
Mr. William J. Bryan, a comparatively unknown 
politician, who carried the convention by storm by 
denouncing the tyranny of gold. "You shall not press 
down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns!" 
he shouted in concluding his speech. "You shall not 
crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!" An assem- 
bly, or a party, which allows itself to be the victim 
of such a metaphor is as much to be pitied as the 
children whom the Pied Piper conjured, without re- 
turn, into the mountain. 

The silver men bolted from the Republican Party, 
and the Gold Democrats nominated General John 
M. Palmer in the hope of drawing votes away from 



150 JOHN HAY 

Br>'an. So the Republicans, instead of being com- 
pelled to make another fight in behalf of Protection, 
with Major McKinley to lead them, were forced to 
defend "honest money" during this campaign. 

When he reached New York, Hay reported to Mr. 
Henry White in London: — 

"I find the feeling a little nervous, unnecessarily 
so, I think. I talked with Hanna and some of the 
Executive Committee, and while there is nothing 
like dread of defeat, there is a clear comprehension 
that [Bryan] will get the votes of a good many others 
of his kind, and that it will require more work than 
we thought necessary last spring to beat him. But 
the work will be done and he will drop into congenial 
oblivion next November. 

"I had a long and serious talk with Sir William 
Harcourt by his own appointment, the day before 
I left, in which he referred, as you do, to the idea 
the government seem to have, of the advisability of 
delay. I assured him, almost in your very words, 
that it was a great mistake: that McKinley could 
not yield on such a position taken by Cleveland." 
(August 5, 1896.) 

Until the end of the summer the Republicans 
Imagined that they could win with ease. But Mr. 
Bryan's personal canvass, unparalleled till then in the 



MAJOR Mckinley 151 

number of speeches made and the distances traveled 
by the candidate, was beginning to cause alarm by 
September 8th, when Hay wrote to Mr. Adams: — 
"What a dull and serious campaign we are having ! 
The Boy Orator makes only one speech — but he 
makes it twice a day. There is no fun in it. He sim- 
ply reiterates the unquestioned truths that every 
man who has a clean shirt is a thief and ought to be 
hanged ; that there is no goodness or wisdom except 
among the illiterate and criminal classes; that gold is 
vile; that silver is lovely and holy; in short, very 
much such speeches as you would make if you were 
here. He has succeeded in scaring the Goldbugs out 
of their five wits; if he had scared them a little, they 
would have come down handsome to Hanna. But he 
has scared them so blue that they think they had 
better keep what they have got left in their pockets 
against the evil day. Your friend George Fred Wil- 
liams ^ weeps in public over the wickedness of the 
Goldbugs and does not appear to get reconciled to 
the [kicks] which they are giving him. He is, so far 
as I know, the only blossom of the Mugwump garden 
who has gone wrong this year." 

On October 4 Hay writes again in his bantering 

vein: — 

^ Former Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts who 
joined the Bryan party. 



152 JOHN HAY 

''What you say about the Majah is all I could ask, 
but the way you say it pains me. Your head is right, 
as usual; but how about your heart? Is it up to the 
G.^ test? Would you die for the Majah? If you will 
do that, and send a certificate, you will be all right. 
We really cannot admit any less rigorous test. W.,^ 
I think, would. I know Cleveland would, and Olney. 
Cabot and Teddy have been to Canton to offer their 
heads to the ax and their tummies to the hara-kiri 
knife. He has asked me to come, but I had thought 
I would not struggle with the millions on his tram- 
pled lawn. Still, if you will go with me, and offer to 
pour out the bluest blood of your veins, I will go." 

A fortnight later (October 20th), writing from 
Cleveland, Hay sends this significant letter. He had 
taken the stump for the Republican ticket, and had 
conferred, by invitation, with Major McKinley, who, 
throughout the campaign, stayed at his home in 
Canton, Ohio, and there received visiting delegations 
and individuals on his lawn: — 

"The days succeed and resemble each other con- 
siderably. Cleveland has ceased the ennobling pur- 
suit of the dollar (37 1 J grains fine), and has given 
itself over to two weeks' debauch of politics. No 
business is done in the mart. We roughen our 
throats all night shouting for the Majah. The ante- 

1 Gilderian. ' Wayne MacVeagh. 



MAJOR McKINLEY 153 

election scare which I have observed with more or 
less detachment for twenty years has set in with 
unusual vigor. Most of my friends think Bryan will 
be elected and we shall all be hanged to the lampions 
of Euclid Avenue. I have not yet made up my mind 
to this. When I do, I shall change my politics and 
try to placate the mob by saying I am next-door 
neighbor to your brother Brooks's brother. I spent 
yesterday with the Majah. I had been dreading it 
for a month, thinking it would be like talking in a 
boiler-factory. But he met me at the station, gave 
me meat, and, calmly leaving his shouting worship- 
ers in the front yard, took me upstairs and talked 
for two hours as calmly and serenely as if we were 
summer boarders in Beverly at a loss for means to 
kill time. I was more struck than ever with his mask. 
It is a genuine Italian ecclesiastical face of the fif- 
teenth century. And there are idiots who think 
Mark Hanna will run him ! 

''You are making the mistake of your life in not 
reading my speech. There is good stuff in it — to 
live and to die by. If you read it in a reverent and 
prayerful spirit, it might make you a postmaster. 
You are not interested in political news. If you were, 
I would give you a pointer. The Majah has a cinch 
— and don't you forget it." 

On January 26, 1897 Hay went to Canton by ap- 



154 JOHN HAY 

pointment with the President-elect. In a brief mem- 
orandum he says: — "Hanna at the house . . . talk 
from 1 1 till I. . . . [McKinley] was called away to the 
telephone. Kohlsaat ^ wanted to talk with him. He 
came back saying K. was dancing with delight over 
the reception of the Gage ^ appointment. Hanna 
said, 'He need n't claim that. I discovered Gage.' 
McK. said, ' I don't care who claims it, if it is a good 
thing.' He then told me what remarkable support 
it was getting all over the country. P. Morgan, Sim- 
mons, B"^^ of Trade, politicians, etc., from one end 
of the country to the other. 

"He then discussed fully the rest of the Cabinet 
as contemplated. State, Sherman. Treasury, Gage. 
War, Alger. Navy, Long." 

About this time the rumor spread that Mr. Hay 
had accepted either a Cabinet position or an Am- 
bassadorship. As late as February 25th the situa- 
tion, as he described it in a letter to his brother-in- 
law, was as follows : — 

To Samuel Mather 

Washington, Feb. 25, '97. 
. . . Smalley was too previous with his announce- 
ment. The place has neither been accepted nor 

1 Herman H. Kohlsaat, editor of the Chicago Times-Herald. 
* Lyman J. Gage, Chicago banker. 



MAJOR McKINLEY 155 

offered. I have received an intimation that the Presi- 
dent thinks of sending me to England but he has not 
made the offer in so many words. I am not worrying 
him nor myself about it. I have done all I could for 
Whitelaw Reid and have reason to think he has been 
offered the place and declined it. I have allowed 
nobody, so far as I know, to worry McKinley in the 
matter. 

We are getting very anxious about his cold. It 
would be a grievous disappointment if he should be 
compelled to take the oath in his bedroom in Canton. 

The outcome of the Bushnell-Hanna complication 
is most gratifying. It is the sensation of the state. 

Knowing Mr. Reid's appetite for high places, we 
doubt whether the English mission was offered to 
him. The reference to the Bushnell-Hanna affair re- 
calls one of the most shocking examples of political 
cynicism in modern American history. McKinley 
desired to take Hanna, to whom he owed every- 
thing, into the Cabinet; but Hanna was too astute 
to run the risk of frittering away his ascendency in 
a position which afforded little scope for his pecu- 
liar talents and was likely to be transient. He in- 
sisted, therefore, upon going to the Senate, where he 
would be virtually assured of a life tenure. But 
there was no vacancy in the Senate from Ohio. 



156 JOHN HAY 

McKInley demanded therefore that John Sherman 
should resign from the Senate and accept the Secre- 
taryship of State. Thereupon Governor Bushnell of 
Ohio appointed Hanna to Sherman's seat, and later 
the appointment was confirmed by the Ohio Legis- 
lature, though not without difficulty. To force the 
venerable Sherman, whose powers were already fail- 
ing, into the most important office after that of the 
President himself, showed a disregard of common 
decency not less than of the safety of the nation. 

As soon as President McKinley was inaugurated, 
he announced that he had appointed John Hay 
Ambassador to Great Britain — an announcement 
which caused general satisfaction throughout this 
country, for he was experienced, he had not been 
identified with any Republican faction, and he was 
popularly thought of rather as a statesman than as a 
politician. 



CHAPTER XXIII 
hay's ambassadorship 

HAY went to England gladly. He had many 
acquaintances there, both in political and 
social life. He knew the ways of diplomacy. Not 
only his own experience in subordinate diplomatic 
positions, but also his long study of Lincoln's admin- 
istration had given him the best possible insight into 
statesmanship in action. He found, as every intel- 
lectual man must find, the ceremonial of office tedi- 
ous. But it had large compensations in the access 
which it opened to the rulers of an empire, to ques- 
tions of world-wide significance and to patriotic ser- 
vice of the highest kind. 

On April 6, 1897, ^^ writes from New York to the 
First Secretary of the London Embassy ; — 

To Henry White 

I see by to-day's papers you have arrived, and 
have already taken over the Embassy. I see also 
that Mr. Bayard ^ is booked for an ovation on the 
7th of May. I do not know quite what that means, 
or how long he is to be in London before he gets 

^ The farewell ovation to Mr. Bayard took place on that date. 



158 JOHN HAY 

his loving-cup. But all this can be left until I see 

you. 

I have already declined four public dinners and 
speeches. I hope, if you are consulted in regard to any 
invitations to such functions, that you will, where it 
is practicable, dissuade our kind friends from sending 
such invitations. I do not intend to begin a cam- 
paign of speech-making the moment I land, and I 
should much prefer not to be asked. 

I have promised Mr. Murray to say a few words at 
the unveiling of the bust of Scott in Westminster 
Abbey in May. Please regard this as confidential 
until Mr. Murray himself makes it public. Arthur 

Balfour is to make the principal address. 

« 

He arrived in England on April 21 and dreaded 
the public reception which threatened him. 

To Samuel Mather 

U.S.M.S. St. Paul, April 21. 

My dear Sam: — 

Here we are at the end of our journey, just enter- 
ing Southampton Water. I quake a little in the knees 
and pale a little about the gills as I am informed the 
Mayor and Corporation of Southampton are to meet 
us at the dock and make me an address of welcome 
and flapdoodle. If they stop at that I will be happy 



HAY'S AMBASSADORSHIP 159 

— for I heard a horrible rumour on leaving New 
York that they were planning a banquet and public 
reception. If that should turn out to be so, there 
will be no London for me till after midnight. I 
wired Mr. White to stop it if possible, and hope he 
will have done so. 

An extract from a note to Senator Lodge written 
from London a fortnight later adds a comic touch to 
the description of Hay's triumphal entry into the 
United Kingdom : — 

" If you had been at Southampton, you would not 
have had the pleasure of seeing Oom Hendrik ^ gloat- 
ing over my sufferings. He so thoroughly disap- 
proved of the whole proceeding that he fled to the 
innermost recesses of the ship — some authorities 
say to the coal-bunkers — out of sight and sound 
of the whole revolving exchange of compliments. 
Henry James stood by, and heard it all, and then 
asked, in his mild, philosophical way, 'What impres- 
sion does it make on your mind to have these insects 
creeping about and saying things to you?' . . . 

"I have declined twenty-six invitations to eat 
dinner and make speeches. I trust my action in this 
matter meets your approval." (May 6, 1897.) 

The Ambassador established himself at No. 5 
^ Hay's nickname for Mr. Adams. 



i6o JOHN HAY 

Carlton Terrace. His first public appearance was at 
the unveiling of the bust of Sir Walter Scott in 
Westminster Abbey (May 21, 1897), where he made 
an address of marked literary distinction which led 
the British public to believe that they had in him 
such a minister as America had not sent them since 
James Russell Lowell. Immediately thereafter came 
for Hay the fatigues incident to his share in the cele- 
bration of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. 
Contrary to his wish, Whitelaw Reid had persuaded 
President McKinley to send a special Embassy to 
greet the Queen, with himself naturally at the head 
of it. This greatly added to the burden of Hay's re- 
sponsibility, in making arrangements for two Amer- 
ican representations instead of one. 

He writes confidentially about his annoyances 
to Mr. Adams, who had gone to France: — 

^^ June 4. The town begins to grow abominable 
for Jubilee. Six miles of lumber deform the streets. 
The fellow-being pullules. How well you are out of 
it! 

"July 7. The Jubilee is gone like a Welsh-rabbit 
dream. It was an explosion of loyalty that amazed 
John Bull himself. What a curious thing it is, that 
there has been no king in England since Elizabeth 
of special distinction — most of them far worse than 
mediocre — only the foreigner, William III, of any 




I'liotograpli by HoUiivjer \ Co. in 1S97 

JOHN HAY WHEN AMBASSADOR TO ENGLAND 



HAY'S AMBASSADORSHIP i6i 

merit — and yet the monarchical reHgion has grown 
day by day till the Queen is worshiped as more than 
mortal, and the Prince will be more popular still 
when he accedes. ... I see nobody but everybody, 
and that is a diet of husks." 

To Mr. Adams's invitation that he come over and 
refresh himself at St. Germain, Hay sent a serio- 
comic reply. 

To Henry Adams 

London, July 25, 1897. 

My dear D'Angouleme: — 

It is no less than a bloomin' shyme that I cannot 
accept your kind invitation to your royal pleasure- 
dome. But the flight of my household Goddesses 
does not free me, as you seem to think, from all obli- 
gations, human and divine. 

I cannot leave this blessed Isle even at the sum- 
mons of my betters in the Forest of St. Germain. 
"Come again next week!" says my Lord of Salis- 
bury, or, by preference, "Wait till I send for thee, 
when I have a more convenient season." 

The sight of a worthy human being happy is com- 
forting to the soul, and I have seen my friend White- 
law sitting between two princesses at supper every 
night, a week running, and I now may intone my 
nunc dimittis. His rapture had the aliquid amari 



i62 JOHN HAY 

that the end must come, but the memoty of it will 
soothe many an hour of ennui at Ophir Farm. 

I do not know why, in your presence, I naturally 
run to slanderous gossip, but I suppose one must 
once in a while abuse one's friends, — and you in- 
spire confidence. And E. A. has been to see me, and 
called me and all my friends idiots and thieves, un- 
der the impression that he was making himself espe- 
cially agreeable. 

If Hay, in his intimate correspondence, had his 
joke at the foibles of others, he was, as we have often 
seen, equally impartial in seeing his own comic side. 

Hay's work as Ambassador may be divided into 
two phases. One, covering his first year of residence 
in England, resulted in cementing friendship be- 
tween the two nations. This was a service of great 
importance, because Cleveland's Venezuela Message 
had aroused at home the chronic, though then 
slumbering, animosity towards the mother country, 
and had caused in Britain itself, quite logically, 
indignation, resentment, and a predisposition to re- 
gard every thing American unfavorably. 

The Venezuela Message, however, put to the test 
the deepest convictions of both peoples and re- 
vealed to each of them that a war between England 



HAY'S AMBASSADORSHIP 163 

and the United States on any grounds then con- 
ceivable, would be not only an immeasurable calam- 
ity, but also a crime against the Anglo-Saxon ideals 
of civilization for which each stood. To bring about 
friendliness was the task of not merely formal diplo- 
macy but of personal influence : and this it was which 
Hay possessed to a degree surpassing that of any of 
his predecessors in the English mission. Personal in- 
fluence is a force which can hardly be defined in such 
a case. It acts cumulatively, often subconsciously, 
and can be estimated only by its outcome. The great 
diplomatist — and Hay was that — attains his ends, 
not merely by the business-like methods with which 
he receives visitors in his office, but by his social con- 
tacts. In societies like the English and French, which 
possess a long tradition of etiquette and manners, 
the quality of man-of-the-world, which also was 
Hay's, often counts for more than rank, intellectual 
eminence, or learning in history and the technical- 
ities of international law. 

Several important questions were pending between 
the United States and Great Britain. The dispute 
over the Bering Sea fisheries; the attempt to pacify 
the Free Silver fanatics at home by securing an inter- 
national agreement on bimetallism; the conclusion 
of the Venezuela arbitration; and the passage of 
the Dingley Tariff Bill, by which the Republicans 



i64 JOHN HAY 

reaffirmed their devotion to high protection, — all 
gave the Ambassador work which called for two 
qualities in which he abounded — tact and courtesy. 

"The town swarms with Senators on their holidays 
[he writes humorously on August 12]. They are all 
in a blue funk about the inspector on the New York 
docks. It was gentle and joyous sport to pass the 
Tariff Bill, but when it comes to paying duty on their 
London dittoes it is another story." 

Later he speaks of several prominent Americans 
as "resting from the slaughter of grouse, and mark- 
ing down their pajamas to get them under the $100 
limit. You can go home as a Polynesian prince and 
pay no duties " [he adds]. 

His fidelity to Protection never dulled his sense of 
humor. 

During the winter, Mr. Hay, accompanied by Mr. 
Adams and other friends, went up the Nile. Before 
he returned to London in March, the Maine had 
been blown up in Havana Harbor and fire-eaters in 
the United States were clamoring for war with Spain. 
The Ambassador set himself to work to propitiate 
English opinion, and this was the second phase of his 
service. His formal instructions came, of course, 
from Washington; but it depended largely on his 
tact whether the British Government looked favor- 
ably on them or not. 



HAY'S AMBASSADORSHIP 165 

In a private letter he gives a summary of the feel- 
ing in London. 

To Senator H. C. Lodge 

London, April 5, 1898. 

If you think I am rushing in where I am not wel- 
come, you can rap my knuckles and I will bear it 
meekly — but I will have had my say. 

I do not know whether you especially value the 
friendship and sympathy of this country [England]. 
I think it important and desirable in the present 
state of things, as it is the only European country 
whose sympathies are not openly against us. We will 
not waste time in discussing whether the origin of 
this feeling is wholly selfish or not. Its existence is 
beyond question. I find it wherever I go — not only 
in the press, but in private conversation. For the 
first time in my life I find the " drawing-room " senti- 
ment altogether with us. If we wanted it — which, 
of course, we do not — we could have the practical 
assistance of the British Navy — on the do ut des 
principle, naturally. 

I think, in the near future, this sentiment, even if 
it amounts to nothing more, is valuable to us. . . . 
[He now describes how, at the last levee,] all the 
royalties stopped me, shook hands and made some 
civil remark. The Spanish Ambassador coming next 



i66 JOHN HAY 

to me, was received merely with a bow. . . . You may 
think "it is none of my Lula business," but I think 
the Senate Committee's allusion to England in the 
Hawaii [report] was not of sufficient use at home to 
compensate for the jar it gave over here. 

And there is that unfortunate Putnam award! ^ 
I suppose you all think — as I do — that it is ab- 
surdly exorbitant; that P. gave us away — which is 
all true, I have no doubt. But, after all, he was our 
representative, and we are included by his act. We 
have nothing to do but pay and look pleasant, or else 
say we won't, which is of course open for any nation 
to do — with the natural result. Is there no way of 
hurrying the matter through? I am sure it will be 
worth the sacrifice. 

You have had an anxious and exciting week. You 
may imagine what it is to me, absolutely without 
light or instruction, compelled to act from day to 
day on my own judgment, and at no moment sure 
of the wishes of the Department. What I should 
have done, if the feeling here had been unfriendly 
instead of cordially sympathetic, it is hard to say. 
The commonest phrase is here: "I wish you would 
take Cuba at once. We would n't have stood it 
this long." 

* Judge W. L. Putnam, for the United States, and Judge King 
for Canada, arbitrators of the British claims for the unjust seizure 
of British vessels, awarded $425,000 to the claimants. 



HAY'S AMBASSADORSHIP 167 

And of course no power on earth would have shown 
such patience and such scrupulous regard for law. 

Events now hurried on apace. On May i Com- 
modore Dewey battered to pieces the obsolescent 
Spanish fleet at Cavite, the news of the victory 
being delayed several days. 

On May 8 Hay replies to Mr. Theodore Stanton, 
at Paris, who had suggested that it might do good if 
Mr. Bryce would visit France, where also a current 
of hostile feeling was blowing : — 

**I have received your letter about James Bryce 
and have written him to-day to appuyer your request. 
I think it an excellent idea. . . . 

"We are all very happy over Dewey's splendid 
Sunday's work at Manila, and anxiously waiting 
news from Sampson and Schley. If we can carry off 
one more serious sea-fight, I hope we can then see 
daylight. I detest war, and had hoped I might never 
see another, but this was as necessary as it was 
righteous. I have not for two years seen any other 
issue." 

'*How Dewey did wallop them! [he writes to Mr. 
Adams on May 9]. His luck was so monstrous that 
it really detracts from his glory. And don't you go 
to making mistakes about McKinley! He is no 
tenderfoot — he has a habit of getting there. Many 



i68 JOHN HAY 

among the noble and the pure have had occasion to 
change their minds about him. My friend Smalley 
changes his weekly. Sometimes he admires him more 
than I do, and sometimes less. I think he is wrong 
both times. I don't pretend to know the Major very 
well, but the Cobden Club and Godkin ^ know him 
still less." 

Another letter to Senator Lodge gives this import- 
ant information : — 

To Senator Lodge 

London, May 25, 1898. 

. . . Your letter gave me the most gratifying and 
the most authentic account of the feeling among the 
leading men in America that I have got from any 
source. It is a moment of immense importance, not 
only for the present, but for all the future. It is 
hardly too much to say the interests of civilization 
are bound up in the direction the relations of Eng- 
land and America are to take in the next few months. 

The state of feeling here is the best I have ever 
known. From every quarter, the evidences of it 
come to me. The royal family, by habit and tradi- 
tion, are most careful not to break the rules of strict 
neutrality, but even among them I find nothing but 
hearty kindness, and — so far as is consistent with 
* Editor of the New York Evening Post. 



HAY'S AMBASSADORSHIP 169 

propriety — sympathy. Among the political leaders 
on both sides I find not only sympathy, but a some- 
what eager desire that "the other fellows" shall not 
seem the more friendly. Chamberlain's startling 
speech ^ was partly due to a conversation I had 
with him, in which I hoped he would not let the 
opposition have a monopoly of expressions of good- 
will to America. He is greatly pleased with the re- 
ception his speech met with on our side, and says 
he "don't care a hang what they say about it on the 
Continent." 

I spend the great part of my time declining invita- 
tions to dine and speak. But on the rare occasions 
when I do go to big public dinners the warmth of the 
welcome leaves nothing to be desired. But the over- 
whelming weight of opinion is on our side. A smash- 
ing blow in the Caribbean would help wonderfully. 

' On May 13, Mr. Chamberlain addressed the Birmingham Liberal- 
Unionist Association and said: "What is our next duty? It is to 
establish and to maintain bonds of permanent amity with our kins- 
men across the Atlantic. There is a powerful and a generous nation. 
They speak our language. They are bred of our race. Their laws, 
their literature, their standpoint upon every question, are the same 
as ours. Their feeling, their interests in the cause of humanity and 
the peaceful developments of the world are identical with ours. I 
don't know what the future has in store for us; I don't know what 
arrangements may be possible with us; but this I do know and feel, 
that the closer, the more cordial, the fuller, and the more definite 
these arrangements are, with the consent of both peoples, the better 
it will be for both and for the world — and I even go so far as to say 
that, terrible as war may be, even war itself would be cheaply pur- 
chased if, in a great and noble cause, the Stars and Stripes and the 
Union Jack should wave together over an Anglo-Saxon alliance." 



170 JOHN HAY 

But an enemy determined not to fight can elude a 
battle a long time. And our hair is growing gray 
while we wait and read the fool despatches. . , . 

I wish we could all be chloroformed for a few 
months, and begin life again in October. I do not so 
much mind my friends going into battle, but the 
fever is a grisly thing to encounter. 

The next letter to Mr. Adams is dated May 27. 
The Ambassador is already looking forward to the 
end of the war. I have found no trace of the draft of 
the "little project" which he mentions. 

" I have your yesterday's letter, and it was a great 
balm to my self-conceit to know that I held the same 
views you express as to terms of peace. I had drawn 
up a little project which was yours almost verbatim. 

"The weak point in both of our schemes is the 
Senate. I have told you many times that I did not 
believe another important treaty would ever pass 
the Senate. What is to be thought of a body which 
will not take Hawaii as a gift, and is clamoring to 
hold the Philippines? Yet that is the news we have 
to-day. 

"The man who makes the Treaty of Peace with 
Spain will be lucky If he escapes lynching. But I am 
old, with few days and fewer pleasures left, and I 
don't mind. 



HAY'S AMBASSADORSHIP 171 

"I think, however, Paris will be the likelier place, 
and I don't hanker after the job." 

The stress of work during these anxious months 
was partly relieved for Hay by the coming and go- 
ing of American friends, among whom were several 
of his Washington circle besides Mr. Henry Adams. 
In June Mr. Adams writes: — 

"The Camerons came over and took the fine old 
house of Surrenden Dering, in Kent, which they 
made a sort of country-house to the Embassy." 

Hay's letter to Senator Lodge, just quoted, Indi- 
cates that he realized that civilization stood at the 
cross-roads in those months of the Spanish war, and 
that on the welding together of England and the 
United States, the future welfare of two hemispheres 
depended. Mr. Adams with his genius for keen and 
philosophic generalization puts the Issue in a memor- 
able paragraph. 

"After two hundred years," Mr. Adams writes, 
"of stupid and greedy blundering, which no argu- 
ment and no violence affected, the people of England 
learned their lesson just at the moment when Hay 
would otherwise have faced a flood of the old anxie- 
ties. Hay himself scarcely knew how grateful he' 
should be, for to him the change came almost of 
course. He saw only the necessary stages that had 
led to it, and to him they seemed natural; but to 



172 JOHN HAY 

Adams, still living in the atmosphere of Palmerston 
and John Russell, the sudden appearance of Ger- 
many as the grizzly terror which in twenty years 
effected what Adamses had tried for two hundred 
in vain, — frightened England into America's arms, 
— seemed as melodramatic as any plot of Napoleon 
the Great. He could feel only the sense of satisfac- 
tion at seeing the diplomatic triumph of all his 
family, since the breed existed, at last realised under 
his own eyes for the advantage of his oldest and 
closest ally." 

The next note that follows belongs to this time. 

To Senator Lodge 

July 27, 1898. 

I am most grateful to you for your letters. I 
appreciate the sacrifice so busy a man makes in writ- 
ing; and coming, as they do, from the very center of 
news, they are most interesting and valuable. 

I can send you little that is interesting in return. 
The daily telegrams in the papers make everything 
stale a few hours after it happens. There are a few 
things, it is true, under the surface, but the people 
you know tell you everything. I have been under 
great obligations the last few months to X., who 
knows Germany as few men do, and has kept me 
wonderfully au courant of facts and opinions there. 



HAY'S AMBASSADORSHIP 173 

How splendidly things have moved our way! I do 
not see a ghost of a chance for Bryan in the next few 
years. 

Meanwhile the change had come about in the 
State Department at home which was presently to 
affect Hay himself. He writes to Mr. Adams on 
May 9: "Judge Day ^ is Secretary of State. He did 
not want it, and the Major [McKinley] had other 
views. But the crisis was precipitated by a lapse of 
memory in a conversation with the Austrian Min- 
ister of so serious a nature that the President had 
to put in Day without an instant's delay — I need 
not tell you how much to my relief." 

One summer evening while the Hays were visit- 
ing their friends at Surrenden the Ambassador re- 
ceived the following cablegram : — 

Washington, Aug. 13, 1898. 

" It gives me exceptional pleasure to tender to you 
the ofHce of Secretary of State, vice Day, who will 
resign to take service on the Paris Commission, to 
negotiate peace. It is important that you should 
assume duties here not later than the first of Sep- 
tember. Cable answer. 

William McKinley. 

1 William Rufus Day, of Ohio, now a Justice of the United States 
Supreme Court. 



174 JOHN HAY 

The honor offered came as a surprise. Whatever 
had been rumored, or talked over, or conjectured, 
the President had not earHer promised Hay the re- 
version of Secretary Day's portfoHo. Hay would have 
preferred to remain in London, where the duties were 
more congenial, and, as he thought, better suited to 
his capacity. 

The friends at Surrenden debated what reply Hay 
should make. He would gladly have found, Mr. 
Adams writes, "a valid excuse for refusing. The 
discussion on both sides was earnest, but the de- 
cided voice of the conclave was that, though if he 
were a mere ofhce-seeker he might certainly decline 
promotion, if he were a member of the Government 
he could not. No serious statesman could accept a 
favor and refuse a service. Doubtless he might 
refuse, but in that case he must resign. . . . His only 
ambition was to escape annoyance, and no one knew 
better than he that, at sixty years of age, sensitive to 
physical strain, still more sensitive to brutality, vin- 
dictiveness or betrayal, he took office at cost of life. 

** Neither he nor any of the Surrenden circle made 
pretence of gladness at the new dignity, for, with all 
his gaiety of manner and lightness of wit, he took 
dark views of himself, none the lighter for their 
humor, and his obedience to the President's order 
was the gloomiest acquiescence he had ever smiled. 



HAY'S AMBASSADORSHIP 175 

Adams took dark views, too, not so much on Hay's 
account as on his own; for, while Hay had at least 
the honors of ofhce, his friends would share only the 
ennuis of it; but, as usual with Hay, nothing was 
gained by taking such matters solemnly, and old 
habits of the Civil War left their mark of military 
drill on every one who lived through it. He shoul- 
dered his pack and started for home." 

So he cabled his acceptance to the President. Ill- 
ness and various duties detained him in England till 
the middle of September. 

As soon as his promotion was published, letters of 
congratulation began to pour in upon him, and these 
were followed by other letters in which his English 
friends expressed their regrets at his departure. 

To one correspondent he replied : — 

To Andrew Carnegie 

London, August 22, 1898. 

My dear Carnegie, — I thank you for the Skibo 
grouse and also for your kind letter. It is a solemn 
and a sobering thing to hear so many kind and un- 
merited words as I have heard and read this last 
week. It seems to me another man they are talking 
about, while I am expected to do his work. I wish a 
little of the kindness could be saved till I leave office 
finally. 



176 JOHN HAY 

I have read with the keenest interest your article 
in the North American} I am not allowed to say in 
my present fix how much I agree with you. The only 
question in my mind is how far it is now possible for 
us to withdraw from the Philippines. I am rather 
thankful it is not given to me to solve that momen- 
tous question. 

A few other letters which refer to his home-going 
should be quoted. 

To Sir John Clark 

Osborne, August 30, 1898, 

I have a few minutes left before my boat starts 
for Portsmouth, and I improve them to send you a 
word from the house of your august and venerable 
friend and sovereign. The Queen spoke of you last 
night with great kindness, and made me unhappy in 
the thought that I could not go as I had intended to 
Tilly pronie. But since I have said good-by to her 
here, it would hardly answer to go so near Balmoral, 
even if I could. It does not seem possible that I am 
buried down with trivial affairs which will take all 
my time till the day I sail. 

I wish I might have a day or two to talk with you. 

* The North American Review, August, 1898. "Distant Posses- 
sions — The Parting of the Ways." 



HAY'S AMBASSADORSHIP 177 

The peripeties which have led up to this most un- 
welcome change are too complicated to write about. 
When the time came, all too soon, that the President 
sent for me, there was no possibility of refusing to 
answer his summons. There could have been no 
adequate explanation of my nolo episcopari. 

I grieve to go away from England. In a year or 
two I think I should have been ready, but the 
charms of this blessed island are inexhaustible, 
and perhaps I should never have had enough of 
them. 

I have received much kindness here from all sorts 
and conditions of men. Dearest and most enduring 
of all my recollections are those happy hours spent 
at Tillypronie with the earliest and best of our Eng- 
lish friends. The chains of office will not fetter me 
for ever, I hope, and the first use I shall make of my 
liberty will be to cross the great water and to renew 
an acquaintance which will be precious to me as long 
as I live. 

To Senator Lodge 

London, August 31, 1898. 

Just a word in advance of my home-coming to 
thank you for your kind letter. I hope, after I am in- 
stalled in Mr. Mullett's masterpiece,^ I may count on 
* The State Department Building in Washington. 



178 JOHN HAY 

the same kindness and indulgence for all my short- 
comings that you have hitherto shown. 

I am going down to-night to say farewell to our 
little Washington colony at Pluckley. I am sorry 
you have never been able to look upon that idyllic 
scene. Don ^ is the finest type of old Tory baronet 
you ever saw. His wife makes a lovely chatelaine, 
and Oom Hendrik has assumed the congenial func- 
tions of cellarer and chaplain. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks 
Adams ^ are there also, and shed sweetness and light 
over the landscape. Moreton Frewen has been there, 
darkening counsel with many cheery words. It was 
delightful to see him, one evening after dinner, 
lauding Colonel Bryan as the greatest and most be- 
neficent personality in American life since Abraham 
Lincoln. 

You will understand I have no time to write a 
letter. I am looking forward to many a long talk 
with you in the future, with Hay unto Lodge ut- 
tering speech, and Lodge unto Hay showing know- 
ledge. 

To his old chief in the days of the Paris Legation, 

John Bigelow, who wrote to congratulate him. Hay 

replied : — 

» Senator J. Donald Cameron. 

* Mr. Brooks Adams is the youngest brother of Mr. Henry Adams, 
"Oom Hendrik." 



HAY'S AMBASSADORSHIP 179 

To John Bigelow 

[London] September 5, 1898. 

I am so tossed about and worried by these un- 
expected changes in my fortunes that I need a Mr. 
Speaker to tell me where I am at. 

I fear you are right about the Philippines, and I 
hope the Lord will be good to us poor devils who have 
to take care of them. I marvel at your suggesting 
that we pay for them. I should have expected no less 
of your probity; but how many except those edu- 
cated by you in the school of morals and diplomacy 
would agree with you? Where did I pass you on the 
road of life? You used to be a little my senior; ^ now 
you are ages younger and stronger than I am. And 
yet I am going to be Secretary of State for a little 
while! 

His old professor at Brown, President James B. 
Angell, who was returning from Constantinople, 
where he had been Minister, wrote: "You and I are 
apparently in these days walking round like official 
St. Denis, with our heads under our arms. Only you 
are so soon to be re-capitated, and with a 'big head' 
indeed." From the highest British officials came 
notes of farewell, in which the regret expressed was 

1 John Bigelow, born in 1817, was twenty-one years older than Hay. 



i8o JOHN HAY 

personal not less than official. Lord Salisbury wrote 
from Germany: " I most deeply regret, for our sakes 
in England, the call that has taken you away from 
our shores, though I confidently anticipate most 
beneficial results, not only to the United States, but 
to England and her relations with the States, from 
your discharge of the most important duties you 
have undertaken." Another Prime Minister, Lord 
Rosebery, spoke in a similar strain: "I wish you 
joy most heartily on having as Ambassador won 
popularit}^ here without losing it in America, on be- 
ing equally respected and regarded in both coun- 
tries, on being as it were poised with a foot on both. 
I wish you joy too on being able in your new posi- 
tion to do something which may further the highest 
interests of both ; in having the power to foster and 
facilitate those relations between the two countries 
which may so largely mould the future of the 
twentieth century." 

A final extract is from Mr. H. H. Asquith, destined 
to be Prime Minister during a life-or-death struggle 
such as none of his forerunners had faced: "Both 
my wife and I feel the personal and public loss of 
your departure," writes the then member for East 
Fife, "which robs us of much anticipated intercourse 
of a kind that is becoming every year rarer to find. 
But, as life goes on, one sees it to be better, and 



HAY'S AMBASSADORSHIP i8i 

ought to find it to be easier that our immediate en- 
vironment should at the cost of its growing empti- 
ness contribute to the general good. . . . We should 
like to hope that the revolutions of what is called 
accident may before long bring us — at least for a 
moment — into the same orbit, and meanwhile be 
assured that — however far apart in space we may 
be — we shall in interest and sympathy and real 
aflfection be always yours." 

One final comment. Queen Victoria said of Hay 
to Lord Pauncefote: "He is the most interesting of 
all the Ambassadors I have known." The Queen's 
acquaintance with American envoys went back to 
Andrew Stevenson, 1837. 

The last letter I find, written before Hay sailed, 
is dated September 14, 1898, and addressed to White- 
law Reid : — 

"We are to cross each other at sea, it appears, and 
I have been so worried by every wind of destiny since 
I got your long and delightful letter that I have not 
answered it, and now the carriage waits to take me 
to the train which is to drag me to Liverpool, and I 
have no time to talk to you. 

"Please take everything for granted — the old 
love, the old confidence, the old trust. 

"You are going to do a most important piece of 
work at Paris, and I know it will be well done. 



i82 JOHN HAY 

"As for me, you can imagine with what solemn 
and anxious feeHngs I am starting for home. Never, 
even in war times, did I feel anything like it. But 
then I was young and now I am old." 

John Hay's ambassadorship ranks in importance 
next after that of Charles Francis Adams. Adams 
prevented England from officially cooperating to 
destroy the American Union. Hay, more than any 
other individual, persuaded England, in a world 
crisis from which was to issue the new adjustment of 
nations and races, of Occident and of Orient, and of 
civilization even, that her interests, if not actually 
her salvation, called for a larger union with her 
American kinsmen. His experience in London taught 
him the currents of European diplomacy. It also 
gave him first-hand testimony as to the personality 
of the German Emperor and as to the earliest mani- 
festations of Pan-Germanist ambitions. These facts, 
as we shall see, had their bearings on his work in the 
State Department. 

In what mood he took up that burden, he confides 
to his brother-in-law, in the following letter. — 

To Samuel Mather 

Newbury, N.H., September 24, 1898, 
... I find it hard to say how I feel about coming 
home. I have never been so oppressed by a sense of 



HAY'S AMBASSADORSHIP 183 

inadequacy before. I feel as if I had been drawn into 
a match with Corbett ^ and the day was drawing on, 
and all my hope was to be knocked out by an early 
blow which would not kill me. I did not want the 
place and was greatly grieved and shocked when it 
came — but of course I could not refuse to do the 
best I could. It was impossible, after the President 
had been so generous, to pick and choose, and say, 
" I will have this and not that." But I look forward 
to the next year with gloomy forebodings. 

The existing vacancy of Secretary and Assistant 
in the State Department requires my immediate 
presence there. I am going Wednesday. Clara 
brought me here for a day or two of fresh air and 
quiet. I hope you did not think I uttered the idiotic 
remarks attributed to me in the World and Herald. 

* J. J. Corbett, who was then the world's champion prize-fighter. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

ENTER HAY SECRETARY OF STATE 

THE new Secretary quickly fell Into the routine 
of office — although he never accepted rou- 
tine without Inwardly chafing. From his house It 
was but a short five minutes' walk across Lafayette 
Square to the Executive Mansion or to the Depart- 
ment of State. Either path he trod every morning. 
On Tuesdays, the Cabinet met at the White House, 
on Thursdays, the Secretary received calls from the 
Diplomatic Corps at his own office. His forenoons 
were filled with the regular business of the Depart- 
ment, In going over correspondence, In conferring 
with Mr. Adee or other subordinates, in blocking out 
despatches or In revising them, and in dictating to 
his secretary, Mr. Babcock. At one o'clock he 
walked back across the Square to lunch at home; 
and returned in the afternoon to finish the day's 
business. Official receptions, dinners, and other en- 
gagements, like the stream of persons who sought an 
interview with him, constantly pressed upon him. 
As his burden of work Increased, he became less 
ready to throw Its worries off In his hours of leisure. 
But his few deep friendships were unshaken. His 



ENTER HAY SECRETARY OF STATE 185 

letters, now less frequent, are alive with the old 
affection for Clarence King and Mr. Adams and the 
two or three other intimates. He enjoyed such 
respites as books and talks afforded, and during his 
summer vacation he refreshed himself with long 
draughts of reading, with Nature, with his children, 
and with stray visits from old comrades. 

Mr. Henry Adams remained his closest friend. 
Mr. Adams himself describes, in the following ex- 
tract, how far the Secretary's new official life 
trenched upon their old companionship : — 

"He [Adams] had nothing to do with Hay's poli- 
tics at home or abroad, and never affected agree- 
ment with his views or his methods, nor did Hay 
care whether his friends agreed or disagreed. They 
all united in trying to help each other to get along 
the best way they could, and all they tried to save 
was the personal relation. Even there, Adams 
would have been beaten, had he not been helped by 
Mrs. Hay, who saw the necessity of distraction, and 
led her husband into the habit of stopping every 
afternoon to take his friend off for an hour's walk, 
followed by a cup of tea with Mrs. Hay afterwards, 
and a chat with any one who called." 

When John Hay went to his desk as Secretary of 
State, on October i, 1898,^ he found many important 
* He was sworn in on September 30. 



i86 JOHN HAY 

matters pressing for an issue. With most of these, 
his year and a half in London had made him ac- 
quainted. He had the advantage of knowing the 
leaders of public life in Washington and in England, 
and he was generally regarded as a man, not only of 
singular personal attractiveness, but also of keen in- 
telligence and of unblemished uprightness. If he had 
little taste for the routine work of office, still he per- 
formed it conscientiously. His health, never robust, 
became more and more precarious under the strain 
put upon it by questions of vast moment, by opposi- 
tion which he thought factious, and by a tragic sor- 
row. More than once he was on the verge of break- 
ing down; but he held, duty-true, to his task, until 
he had spent his last ounce of strength in the service. 
Then he died. 

The public, little aware of his trials, and observing 
chiefly the carrying out of brilliant policies, enjoyed 
a comfortable sense of security that while he was 
Secretary of State the national honor and safety 
were assured. 

Throughout his long term in the State Depart- 
ment John Hay relied especially upon two invaluable 
helpers. The first of these, a friend since their youth, 
was Mr. Alvey A. Adee, who had been in the Depart- 
ment for more than twenty years. As Second Assist- 
ant Secretary of State, Mr. Adee was then, as he is 



ENTER HAY SECRETARY OF STATE 187 

to-day, the only permanent official of high rank under 
the executive. Administrations came and went, 
Adee stayed on. Presidents ignorant of diplomacy 
and international law felt reasonably safe in ap- 
pointing as their chief secretaries gentlemen as igno- 
rant as themselves, because they knew that Adee 
was there to guard against blunders. He was the 
master of both the language and the practices of 
diplomacy. He could draw up note, memorandum, 
protocol, or instructions, not merely in just the right 
words, but with the indefinable tone of courtesy or 
coolness which the occasion required. His knowledge 
of American diplomatic history was unrivaled. His 
capacity for work, like his cheerfulness, never ran 
out. Though it took sometimes six and a half hours 
to ''shovel through" the morning's mail, and fifty- 
five minutes to sign the official correspondence, he 
could still close a letter to his absent chief with the 
salutation, " Fatiguedly but always chipperly yours." 
Hay called him ''semper paratus Adee.'' An invalu- 
able man. 

Service of a very different kind, but equally im- 
portant, was rendered by Mr. Henry White, First 
Secretary of the American Embassy in London. 
While long experience taught him the technique of 
diplomacy, his personal qualities made him a wel- 
come companion with the various groups which con- 



i88 JOHN HAY 

stituted British society, and especially with the 
shapers of British statecraft. Informal relations 
often count most in diplomacy. The proposal which 
has been talked over confidentially in the library 
after dinner stands a better chance of being ac- 
cepted than if it is first presented with official punc- 
tilio at the Foreign Office. London being at that 
time the center of world-diplomacy, Mr. White's 
intimacy with British statesmen enabled him to 
keep Secretary Hay informed, not only as to their 
views, but as to international affairs. Thanks to 
him. Hay did not lose touch with acquaintances he 
had himself made during his ambassadorship; and 
more than once he employed Mr. White to sound pri- 
vately the British Ministers before beginning even a 
tentative negotiation. Discreet, sympathetic, trust- 
worthy, and untiring, Mr. Henry White helped the 
Secretary of State to plan and to act with the con- 
sciousness that what he did might affect conditions 
the world over. 

One of the first annoyances which beset Secretary 
Hay was the rapacity of office-seekers. When they 
did not attack him themselves, they worked through 
their Senators. To say no to the local statesman of 
Pumpkin Four Corners, who aspired to be consul- 
general in London, was easy; but to deny his Senator 
might alienate one whose hostile vote would kill an 



ENTER HAY SECRETARY OF STATE 189 

important treaty. In vain did Hay protest that his 
predecessor, Judge Day, had swept the shelf dean; in 
vain did he declare that there were fifty applicants 
for every vacancy: the swarm gave him no respite. 
And if Senators slackened, Congressmen redoubled 
their importunities. 

At first, the Secretary saw the ludicrousness of 
this system and discharged its drudgery with a smile ; 
but later, when his health made even pin-pricks 
unendurable, he turned the business over to Assist- 
ant Secretary Loomis. 

The following notes to a distinguished Senator 
show Hay in his playful mood : — 

March 31, 1900. 

The only vacant Consulate in the service is Iqui- 
que. Do I understand that the great Commonwealth 
you so nobly represent, wishes to fill it? It brings in 
to the pampered occupant something like $800 a 
year. 

April 2, 1900. 
A candidate for Iquique has turned up. . . . Un- 
less you have a man with a better claim on that 
$800 salary, I think this low-priced Phoenix may take 
the cake. 



190 JOHN HAY 

April 5, 1900. 

I have your letter of yesterday. Of course, if you 

want Iquique for Mr. C, you shall have it, but are 

you sure he would want to go? The place is not in 

Mexico, as you seem to think, but in Chile, and I 

imagine would best be described by Goldsmith's 

line : — 

"Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow." 

The Secretary was pestered by requests for favors 
other than offices. Thus a Congressman of fashion- 
able pretensions writes that his relatives, who are at 
Dresden, desire to be presented to the King and 
Queen of Saxony. Whereupon the American Secre- 
tary of State is obliged, besides sending a polite reply 
to the fashionable Congressman, to communicate 
with the American Ambassador in Berlin to instruct 
the American Consul in Dresden to request the 
Royal Chamberlain there to include the names of 
the ladies of the fashionable Congressman in his list 
of invitations to the next Court reception. 

No less edifying is the demand of Senator Hanna, 
when established at Aix-les-Bains for the benefit of 
his health, that Secretary Hay shall authorize the 
American Consul at Nuremberg — who appears to 
have been appointed to that office because he was 
the Senator's private physician — to take leave of 



ENTER HAY SECRETARY OF STATE 191 

absence, hasten to Aix-les-Bains, and watch the ef- 
fect of the waters on Mr. Hanna's impaired system. 
We are not informed whether the Senator or the 
United States Treasury paid the travehng expenses 
of the doctor; we suspect, however, that it paid for 
the cablegram to Nuremberg and presumably the 
doctor's salary while he was absent on private busi- 
ness. Such practices would cause no remark in a 
monarchy; in a republic they are among the ironies 
of patriotism. 

Quite as comic was the temporary embarrassment 
caused by the illegible handwriting of a candidate 
for the Persian Ministry. In informing him that the 
post was vacant. Secretary Hay asked him to "wire 
his reply." When received his telegram read that he 
would gladly accept the Peruvian Ministry. As this 
was already filled, Mr. Hay, perplexed, sought an 
explanation, and learned that the gentleman had 
written " Persian " so badly that the operator read it 
"Peruvian." 

My place here is horribly unpleasant [Mr. Hay 
wrote to Whitelaw Reid, on November 13, 1898]. 
The work is constant and unceasing. It takes nine 
hours' work to clear my desk every day and there 
is no refuge at home. The worst is the constant 
solicitations for office, which I cannot even enter- 



192 JOHN HAY 

tain; the strain of mind and nerves in explaining 
why things can't be done, and the consciousness 
that the seekers and their "influence" think I am 
lying. . . . 

As to appointments under the State Depart- 
ment it is clear that I am to have nothing to say. 
I could not appoint even my Private Secretary, as 
Mr. Sherman wanted me to appoint his; nor my 
confidential clerk, as a friend of the President's from 
Canton had the place. When I came to look at the 
Consular Service, I found that not only was every 
place filled before Judge Day left, but every vacancy 
which can possibly occur during my incumbency has 
been provided for by a memorandum on file. The 
other day the Consul at Berlin died. The President 
had made up his mind to promote Frank Mason — 
the best Consul in the service; but before the other 
man's funeral, nearly every State in the Union had 
claimed the place by wire. For another unimportant 
place, which cannot pay expenses, there are sixteen 
unfortunate applications by Senators. The President 
is not to blame. The pressure is so cruel that he 
must use these offices to save his life. 

This lament goes up over and over again to the 
end of Hay*s service. I add one more specimen be- 
cause of its striking simile. 



ENTER HAY SECRETARY OF STATE 193 
To Professor G. P. Fisher 

July 2, 1902. 

... I have made no appointments in the foreign 
service since I entered the State Department and the 
President himself, with all possible good-will, is 
hardly ever able to make an appointment upon his 
own judgment and discretion. All other branches 
of the Civil Service are so rigidly provided for that 
the foreign service is like the topmost rock which you 
sometimes see in old pictures of the Deluge. The 
pressure for a place in it is almost indescribable. 

The question of Hay's successor in London stimu- 
lated a vigorous campaign of aspirants and their 
supporters. Probably the most persistent was Mr. 
Reid himself, who had never hesitated, during 
twenty years or more, when a high office loomed on 
the horizon, to remind the Republican leaders that, 
as the stalwart editor of the New York Tribune, he 
deserved well of the Republic. And he abounded in 
friends. One of these told Hay, on their homeward 
voyage, that Reid was the man for ambassador, add- 
ing that "he did more than any other man to nom- 
inate and elect McKinley. I suppose he got this 
interesting, if true, information from headquarters," 
Hay wTote one of his intimates; "strange that it 



194 JOHN HAY 

never occurred to him that I was in position to know 
something about the facts, and about Reid also." 
(September i8, 1898.) 

To Reid himself, Hay wrote somewhat guardedly 
in a letter, parts of which I have already quoted. 

To Whitelaw Reid 

Washington, November 13, 1898. 
About my successor, I have not the slightest in- 
timation who he is to be. New York, I suppose, 
could have anybody she asked for with any unani- 
mity ; but the pleasing habit of your great State is 
a multiplicity of interests. There is a considerable 
push for [General Horace] Porter, which, curiously 
enough, is supported by all New England, in the 
hope of getting [General William F.] Draper sent to 
Paris. [General Stewart L.] Woodford has some 
friends; quite a number of the best people want 
Pierpont Morgan — a much larger number want 
Choate. Piatt does not seem to be very active; he 
opposes everybody who is named, you and Choate 
especially. He hates Porter also, but is evidently not 
afraid of him — with reason, I think, though some 
of your colleagues think Porter would be the best 
solution. Outside of New York there are numerous 
suggestions, but none of them I think are fruitful. 
Roger Wolcott [Governor of Massachusetts] would 



ENTER HAY SECRETARY OF STATE 195 

be formidable, if it were not that his own State wants 
Porter's place for Draper. From the West [Senator 
Edward O.] Wolcott [of Colorado] and Marshall 
Field and [Robert T.] Lincoln have been named. I 
have not a prophecy worth giving as to the result. 
As to my conversations with the President, they have 
been brief, and of course you will not expect me to 
repeat them. My wishes will cut no figure. The 
President will do what seems to him best. He is 
sincerely attached to you. 

When Mr. Reid, absorbed in drawing up the 
treaty at Paris, read this letter, he hardly found in it 
cause for elation. On his return, he went at once to 
Washington to get his bearings. The next letter 
from Hay suggests an embarrassing interview. 

To Whitelaw Reid 

December 26, 1898. 

After you had gone Saturday, I felt with some re- 
morse that I may have seemed to you less confiden- 
tial than has been my lifelong habit to be with you. 

There are two explanations of it which I owe to 
you. 

First, I hate to be the occasion of strife among 
friends. If I had not mentioned in detail the impor- 
tant personal influences which have been urging the 



196 JOHN HAY 

President during the last month or two, men who 
have been intimately associated with you socially 
and politically, you would have regarded the action 
as lacking in friendship and in candor. They do not 
so regard it — they speak of you with the same re- 
gard and affection as ever. But you naturally would 
take a different view of their action. It was for this 
reason I did not go into details; and, 

Secondly, so long as I am in this place, — • which 
cannot be for long, — although I came to it most un- 
willingly, I am bound in common decency to a loyal 
observance of every obligation to the President and 
cannot discuss either his actions or his motives even 
to my dearest friends. 

When you spoke of your surprise that I should 
quote Mr. Quigg ^ as representing anything, I did 
not reply that the reason I mentioned him was 
that he had apparently convinced Seckendorff and 
Nicholson that he was working for you and expected 
to bring the machine around in that sense. 

My experience in life has been that a man com- 
monly resents the failures of his friends rather more 
than the malice of his enemies, but you are not made 
of common stuff, and I shall continue to hope that 
no cloud shall ever come between us. Your friend- 

^ Lemuel E. Quigg, New York politician; M. G. Seckendorff, then 
Washington correspondent of the New York Tribune ; Donald Nichol- 
son, member of the Tribune's editorial staff. 



ENTER HAY SECRETARY OF STATE 197 

ship has been one of the greatest pleasures of my 
life, and in the short space which remains to me, I 
trust I shall retain it. 

The struggle of the candidates went on, however, 
for two months longer. Then, on January 10, 1899, 
Secretary Hay notified to the British Ambassador 
the appointment by the President of the Honorable 
Joseph H. Choate. " I am sure," he added, "you will 
agree with me that no more acceptable choice could 
have been made." 

General Porter contined to hold his post at Paris ; 
General Draper lingered a little longer at Rome; 
but more than six years elapsed before Mr. Reid 
installed himself amid the splendors of Dorchester 
House as the accredited exemplar of the American 
simple life. 

On entering the State Department, Secretary Hay 
was confronted by many grave international ques- 
tions. The Peace Commissioners had received their 
general instructions when he took office, but during 
the negotiations, he was in constant communica- 
tion with them. How far the later modifications 
came from President McKinley, and how far from 
Hay or other advisers, I cannot sa}^ ; but there is no 
doubt that Hay approved of the terms of settlement 



198 JOHN HAY 

with Spain, including the retention, by the United 
States, of the PhiHppine Islands. The policy of 
embarking on colonial possessions aroused a storm 
of opposition, which came to be called Anti-Impe- 
rialism. Many of its leaders — Carl Schurz, Charles 
Eliot Norton, Edward Atkinson, Charles Francis 
Adams, Senator G. F. Hoar — had been among the 
earliest Republicans, at a time when that party 
existed to abolish slavery. To their protests that the 
country ought not to go into the business of ruling 
Filipinos against their will, and thereby setting up 
a form of semi-servitude, Hay and the McKinley 
Administration replied that, whether the United 
States liked it or not, the Philippine Islands were an 
obligation which they could not evade. 

On both sides the debate was very bitter — how 
bitter can be inferred from the following letter : — 

To Whitelaw Reid 

Washington, November 29, 1898. 

In all the vicissitudes of the last few weeks I have 
been delighted to find you always on the side of 
square and resolute dealing, and now that I hope the 
end is in sight I feel that the country is under great 
obligations to you and those of your colleagues who 
felt as you have on the subject. There is a wild 
and frantic attack now going on in the press against 



ENTER HAY SECRETARY OF STATE 199 

the whole Philippine transaction. Andrew Carnegie 
really seems to be off his head. He writes me frantic 
letters signing them "Your Bitterest Opponent." 
He threatens the President, not only with the venge- 
ance of the voters, but with practical punishment 
at the hands of the mob. He sa^^s henceforth the 
entire labor vote of America will be cast against us, 
and that he will see that it is done. He says the Ad- 
ministration will fall in irretrievable ruin the moment 
it shoots down one insurgent Filipino. He does not 
seem to reflect that the Government is in a some- 
what robust condition even after shooting down 
several American citizens in his interest at Home- 
stead. But all this confusion of tongues will go its 
way. The country will applaud the resolution that 
has been reached, and you will return in the role of 
conquering heroes, with your "brows bound with 
oak." 

From this letter, not to mention many others 
which have preceded it, we observe one of Hay's 
most salient traits : having espoused a policy he up- 
held it firmly, even fiercely — as if, decision having 
been made, debate should cease. He was right: Im- 
perialism emerging so suddenly from the hidden 
nurseries of fate stood forth in a few months as a 
fact that could not be recalled. How far the im- 



200 JOHN HAY 

perialistic policy might have been modified if Secre- 
tary Hay had opposed it, no one can say; but we can 
confidently assert that his approval of it greatly 
strengthened the Imperialists in the Administration, 
in Congress, and throughout the country. 

Looking back, we see that the events of a decade 
or more had been converging toward the time when 
the United States, in dealing with the West Indies 
and Central and South America, would be obliged to 
depart from their traditional attitude of political 
isolation. The loud trumpeting of the transformed 
Monroe Doctrine changed all that, for a government 
which could utter such a warning could not continue 
to be indifferent, much less isolated ; and when it came 
to annex, first, the Hawaiian Islands, then Porto Rico, 
and then the Philippines, it took on Imperial respon- 
sibilities from which no mere protest could absolve 
it. Yet the fateful change occurred so casually that 
Americans scarcely perceived its far-reaching con- 
sequences. The Monroe Doctrine constituted the 
United States the warder of both Americas; but 
this relation inevitably forced upon the United 
States a new position towards Europe, while their 
acquisitions in the Pacific, and especially their owner- 
ship of the Philippines, threw them into the sphere 
of Asiatic development. Whether we would or not, 
we were now a World Power and could not evade 



ENTER HAY SECRETARY OF STATE 201 

the entanglements, ambitions, advantages, or the 
dangers implied by that fact. 

John Hay was among the few who understood the 
significance of the change from the very first mo- 
ment; and he accepted it without looking back, or, 
so far as appears, without feeling regrets. Seeing its 
significance he shaped all his work as Secretary of 
State with reference to it. To place this country as 
speedily as possible in such relations with the rest of 
the world as became its character, was henceforth his 
controlling purpose. 



CHAPTER XXV 

ALASKA: THE FIRST CANAL TREATY 

IN the new alignment of world politics which was 
measured by continents and not merely by 
countries, Hay deemed it to be of the utmost im- 
portance that friendship should be cemented be- 
tween the United States and the nations of western 
Europe; for all these held, or were supposed to hold, 
certain ideals of a common civilization. His first 
object was to make closer the bonds with Great 
Britain, in order that the principles called, for con- 
venience' sake, Anglo-Saxon, and professed equally 
by Americans and British, should be strengthened 
against possible conflict with other rivals in the 
political struggle for existence. Not subservience, 
not imitation, but the concord of two independent 
nations, was his aim. 

He had, fortunately, a warm coadjutor in the 
British Ambassador, Sir Julian, soon afterward 
Lord, Pauncefote, a diplomatist, conciliatory, open- 
minded, very sensitive to questions of honor, ready 
to assume, until he had proved to the contrary, that 
his colleagues' intentions were as honest as his own. 
During nearly four years he and Secretary Hay 



ALASKA 203 

worked together to harmonize the interests of their 
respective countries. 

Among the larger diplomatic labors which Hay in- 
herited from his predecessor was the effort to adjust 
with Canada various claims and grievances which 
had been a recurrent source of irritation. Twelve 
subjects were specified in the protocol; and a Joint 
High Commission ^ was appointed ; which, having 
met at Quebec, removed to Washington and held 
its sessions there during the last months of 1898. 

Several of the differences could be easily settled; 
one, however, the determination of the Alaska 
boundary, proved a stumbling-block. The recent 
discovery of gold in the Klondike and the rush 
thither of troops of adventurers made it imperative 
that the frontier lines should be marked. Since 1867, 
when the United States bought Alaska from Russia, 
certain inlets, harbors, and channels had been un- 
disputedly American ; now, the Canadians laid claim 
to them. The Americans believed that the Cana- 
dians, knowing that they had no case, insisted on 
including the Alaskan contention in the general 

^ The Joint High Commission consisted originally of — For the 
United States: Senator C. W. Fairbanks, chairman; Senator George 
Gray; Congressman Nelson Dingley; ex-Secretary J. W. Foster; 
ex-Minister J. A. Kasson; ex-Minister T. J. Coolidge. For Great 
Britain and Canada: Lord Herschell, chairman; Sir Wilfrid Lau- 
rier, Canadian Premier; Sir R. J. Cartwright; Sir L. H. Davies; 
John Charlton, M.P.; Sir J. T. Winter. 



204 JOHN HAY 

negotiations, in the hope that it might slip through 

with the rest. 

On December 3, 1898, Hay wrote confidentially to 
Mr. Henry White in London: — 

To Henry White 
I hear from no less than three members of our 
Canadian Commission that by far the worst member 
of the Commission to deal with is Lord Herschell, 
who is more cantankerous than any of the Cana- 
dians, raises more petty points, and is harder than 
any of the Canadians to get along with. In fact he 
is the principal obstacle to a favorable arrangement. 
If you could in any discreet way, in conversation 
with Balfour or Villiers, or even Lord Salisbury, 
should occasion offer, intimate this state of things, 
so that they might speak a word which would moder- 
ate his excessive lawyer-like zeal to make a case, it 
would be a good thing. 

On January 3, 1899, the Secretary complains again 
to Mr. White: — 

" Lord Herschell, with great dexterity and ability, 
represents his own side as granting everything and 
getting nothing, and yet I think the letter of Fair- 
banks shows with perfect clearness and candor that 
we are making great concessions and getting no 
credit for them. 



ALASKA 205 

"In the case of Alaska, it is hard to treat with pa- 
tience the claim set up by Lord Herschell that vir- 
tually the whole coast belongs to England, leaving 
us only a few jutting promontories without commu- 
nication with each other. Without going into the 
historical or legal argument, as a mere matter of 
common sense it is impossible that any nation should 
ever have conceded, or any other nation have ac- 
cepted, the cession of such a ridiculous and preposter- 
ous boundary line. We are absolutely driven to the 
conclusion that Lord Herschell put forward a claim 
that he had no belief or confidence in, for the mere 
purpose of trading it off for something substantial. 
And yet, the slightest suggestion that his claim is 
unfounded throws him into a fury." 

Nevertheless, the Lord Chancellor stuck uncom- 
promisingly to his demands and the Commission 
adjourned on February 20, 1899. 

The following letters to various correspondents 
throw side-lights on Secretary Hay's work during 
these negotiations : — 

To Joseph H. Choate 

April 28, 1899. 

You are by this time probably aware of the great 
difficulties that surround the arrangement of any 
controversy in which Canada is concerned. The 



206 JOHN HAY 

Dominion politicians care little for English interests. 
Their minds are completely occupied with their own 
party and factional disputes, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier 
is far more afraid of Sir Charles Tupper than he is of 
Lord Salisbury and President McKinley combined; 
while the habit of referring everything from the 
Foreign Office to the Colonial, followed by a con- 
sultation of the Canadian authorities by the Min- 
ister of the Colonies, produces interminable friction 
and delay. 

June 15, 1899. 

As to the general subject of the final delimitations 
of the frontier, I have still strong hopes that when 
Sir Julian returns from the Hague, he may bring us, 
after full consultation with you and Lord Salisbury, 
some possible basis of agreement. I am so anxious 
to have the thing settled that I am willing to run 
considerable risk in the Senate with a treaty, either 
of delimitation or arbitration, and the President 
gives this view his cordial support. 

I have been greatly struck, since I came here, 
with his coolness and courage in regard to such mat- 
ters. Having passed the great part of his life in 
Congress, he is, of course, a thorough parliamenta- 
rian, with the greatest respect for the Legislative 
Department, and a loyal regard and consideration 
for its legitimate authority. 



ALASKA 207 

... To set over their claim on the one place against 
our claim on the others may make a neat rhetorical 
repartee, but I do not see how a diplomatist or a 
man of business can see any justice in such a con- 
tention. It is as if a kidnapper, stealing one of 
your children, should say that his conduct was more 
than fair, it was even generous, because he left you 
two. 

To Whitelaw Reid 

July 27, 1899. 

The position in regard to arbitration is not al- 
together free from awkwardness. After we had put 
forth our entire force and compelled — there is no 
other word for it — England to accept arbitration 
in the Venezuela matter, we cannot feel entirely easy 
in refusing an arbitration in this. It is true the cases 
are very different, as I have endeavored to point out 
in a long dispatch to Lord Salisbury, in answer to 
his proposition for arbitration; but people at large 
do not consider these matters in great detail, and it 
looks as if we were refusing to England what Eng- 
land, at our demand, granted to Venezuela. And 
yet if we went into arbitration on the matter, al- 
though our claim is as clear as the sun in Heaven, we 
know enough of arbitrations to foresee the fatal ten- 
dency of all arbitrators to compromise. 



2o8 JOHN HAY 

Only in the following October was a modus vivendi 
agreed to; but not until January, 1903, were negotia- 
tions reopened which led to the final settlement of 
this fretting dispute. In the mean time, Lord Her- 
schell had died, the Boxer uprising and the Boer 
War had supervened. President McKinley had been 
assassinated, and Theodore Roosevelt was in the 
White House. 

The convention which Hay then signed with Sir 
Michael Herbert, the new British Ambassador, called 
for a limited commission, to consist of three Ameri- 
cans and three Britishers,^ to treat the Alaskan ques- 
tion by itself. It being taken for granted that the 
Americans and Canadians would each uphold the 
claim of their respective governments, the decision 
depended upon Lord Alverstone, whose selection may 
not have been fortuitous. For President Roosevelt, 
— vigorous, as always, — who thought Hay's atti- 
tude indecisive, if not actually timid, took a short 
cut to warn the British Cabinet that if this negotia- 
tion fell through he would get the consent of Con- 
gress to enable him to run the boundary "on his 
own hook." 

* The Americans appointed by the President were Senator 
Lodge, Elihu Root, Secretary of War, and ex-Senator George 
Turner, of Washington. The English members were Lord Alver- 
stone, Lord Chief Justice of England, and the Canadians, Sir L. A. 
Jett6 and A. B. Aylesworth. 



ALASKA 209 

He said emphatically that he would not arbitrate 
the possession of the large sections of Alaska which 
the Canadians demanded, but that there were minor 
questions, topographical trifles, which they might 
discuss. "The claim of the Canadians for access to 
deep water along any part of the Alaskan coast is," 
he wrote, "just exactly as indefensible as if they 
should now suddenly claim the island of Nantucket." 

" I believe that no three men," the President said, 
"in the United States could be found who would be 
more anxious than our own delegates to do justice 
to the British claim on all points where there is even 
a color of right on the British side. But the objec- 
tion raised by certain Canadian authorities to Lodge, 
Root, and Turner, and especially to Lodge and Root, 
was that they had committed themselves on the 
general proposition. No man in public life in any 
position of prominence could have possibly avoided 
committing himself on the proposition, any more 
than Mr. Chamberlain could avoid committing him- 
self on the question of the ownership of the Orkneys 
if some Scandinavian country suddenly claimed them. 
If this claim embodied other points as to which there 
was legitimate doubt, I believe Mr. Chamberlain 
would act fairly and squarely in deciding the matter; 
but if he appointed a commission to settle up all these 
questions, I certainly should not expect him to ap- 



210 JOHN HAY 

point three men, If he could find them, who believed 
that as to the Orkneys the question was an open one. 
I wish to make one last effort to bring about an agree- 
ment through the Commission," he said in closing, 
" which will enable the people of both countries to say 
that the result represents the feeling of the represent- 
atives of both countries. But if there is a disagree- 
ment, I wish it distinctly understood, not only that 
there will be no arbitration of the matter, but that 
in my message to Congress I shall take a position 
which will prevent any possibility of arbitration 
hereafter; a position . . . which will render it neces- 
sary for Congress to give me the authority to run the 
line as we claim it, by our own people, without any 
further regard to the attitude of England and Can- 
ada. If I paid attention to mere abstract rights, that 
is the position I ought to take anyhow. I have not 
taken it because I wish to exhaust every effort to 
have the affair settled peacefully and with due re- 
gard to England's honor." 

What passed through the minds of the British 
Ministers when they heard, confidentially, the Presi- 
dent's decision, is not reported. Possibly, they real- 
ized that the claims which the Canadians had pushed 
for the past five years were only a bluff; assuredly 
they knew that Mr. Roosevelt meant what he said, 
and it was no secret that he had already sent troops 



ALASKA 211 

to Alaska; at all events, they appointed as England's 
representative Lord Alverstone, who as it turned out, 
supported the American contention. 

Whatever demur Secretary Hay may have made 
in his consultations with the President, he defended 
the American policy stanchly as soon as Mr. Roose- 
velt had adopted it. 

To a correspondent of the New York Tribune, who 
complained that the American Government was too 
conciliatory, he wrote (January 30, 1903) : — 

To Frederick W. Seward 

It seems to me there can be only one objection to 
[the treaty], and that is the possibility that the de- 
cision of the tribunal may not be final ; the Commis- 
sioners may be evenly divided. In that case we are 
no worse off than we are now, and the gain we have 
made is to separate this question from the other 
questions of which it prevented any solution. But I 
cannot help thinking . . . that the English are con- 
vinced they have no case, and have, therefore, con- 
sented to this apparently fair and dignified way of 
getting out of an untenable position. It is inconceiv- 
able that any American should decide against us, 
while if we succeed in convincing one of their men — 
and we ought to do it with the case we have — the 
troublesome question is settled forever, and the two 



212 JOHN HAY 

countries can go ahead, delimit the frontier and put 
up monuments for all time. 

General John W. Foster, ex-Secretary of State and 
well versed in the Alaskan controversy, prepared the 
American case, which the Administration hoped Mr. 
Choate would present before the tribunal. "Your 
note of the 22nd of January, 1900," Mr. Hay wrote 
to him, "has never been answered, and we regard 
it as absolutely unanswerable." Still, Mr. Choate 
declined the appointment, and Messrs. Watson and 
Dickinson served in his stead. In expressing his re- 
grets to Mr. White, Hay said: "A mere legal argu- 
ment is not what is required in this unprecedented 
case. A sharp, aggressive lawyer will run great risk 
of getting Lord Alverstone's back up. Mr. Choate 
would have made an argument faultless in tone, 
temper, skill, and knowledge of human nature." 

Whatever might have been gained from Mr. 
Choate's ability as a pleader, we cannot doubt, how- 
ever, that he was right in declining the task. For, as 
he said, it would be scarcely proper if he, who as 
American Ambassador had had frequent conferences 
with the British Ministers, should suddenly appear 
before the tribunal in the role of an American attor- 
ney; it might justify a suspicion that he had been 



THE FIRST CANAL TREATY 213 

uncandid; it could hardly fail to affect his further 
personal and official relations with the British states- 
men. 

In due season, on October 20, 1903, the tribunal 
gave a decision in favor of the chief American claims. 
Lord Alverstone voted with the three Americans. 
The two Canadian members dissented. Thus, after 
long waiting. Secretary Hay saw one of his cherished 
measures adopted. 

On looking back, the efficacy of the combination 
of President Roosevelt's brusqueness with Secretary 
Hay's urbanity cannot be disputed. 

An even weightier question which pressed for 
settlement was that of a canal across the Isthmus of 
Panama. A French company under De Lesseps had 
collapsed in 1888 after it had accomplished more than 
a third of the excavations. Thenceforward the feel- 
ing strengthened year by year in the United States 
that any Isthmian canal should be built and con- 
trolled by the American Government. During the 
Spanish War the voyage of the battleship Oregon 
round Cape Horn had further emphasized the need 
of a shorter route between the Atlantic and the 
Pacific States. But the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 
ratified in 1850 between the United States and Great 
Britain, stood in the way: since it pledged each party 



214 JOHN HAY 

never to "obtain or maintain for itself any exclusive 
control over the said ship-canal," or to "assume or 
exercise any dominion . . . over any part of Central 
America." 

As soon as Hay was well established in his depart- 
ment he resolved to remove this obstacle. He in- 
structed Mr. Henry White, then in charge of the 
American Embassy in London, to sound Lord Salis- 
bury as to the likelihood of the British Govern- 
ment's being disposed to discuss the abrogation of 
the treaty. Mr. White acted promptly. It being 
Lord Salisbury's habit seldom to visit the Foreign 
Office more than once a week, Mr. White wrote to 
ask whether he might go down to Hatfield to con- 
fer with the Prime Minister on important business. 
Lord Salisbury did not like to have foreign ambassa- 
dors break in on his country life, but he had long 
held Mr. White in friendly esteem and had often 
welcomed him as a guest at Hatfield. Accordingly 
he sent an invitation for Mr. White to spend a week- 
end with him. And one morning late in December, 
in the Marquis's library after breakfast, before going 
out for a day's shooting together, they talked over 
the Isthmian problem. Lord Salisbury assented at 
once to the American proposals. The only stipula- 
tion he made was that tolls should be levied equally 
on ships of all nations that used the Canal. He added 



THE FIRST CANAL TREATY 215 

that, as Sir Julian Pauncefote was thoroughly con- 
versant with the subject, negotiations might be con- 
ducted by him at Washington. That evening, after 
"a particularly pleasant day's shooting with Lord 
Salisbury and his sons," Mr. White cabled to Secre- 
tary Hay the happy result of the interview. 

So Secretary Hay and Sir Julian conferred on the 
terms of the treaty. They found it easy to come to 
an agreement on general points; but their progress 
was hampered, if not checked, by the Foreign Office, 
which was bent on showing to the Canadians its 
solicitude for their interests. To make the Canal 
treaty a means of securing larger concessions for the 
Canadians was too obvious an advantage for a bar- 
gainer to throw away. 

The following sheaf of letters summarizes most of 
the points at issue in the negotiations and has the 
further merit of revealing Secretary Hay's manner 
of addressing his various correspondents. To Mr. 
White in confidence he relieves his pent-up irrita- 
tion; to Senator Morgan, to whom the first letter is 
addressed, he is dispassionate and polite. 

To Senator John T. Morgan 

December 27, 1898. 

Your letter of the 24th, in regard to the Clayton- 
Bulwer Treaty, has been received. It is impossible 



2i6 JOHN HAY 

at this moment to answer your question as to when 
we shall be able to come to an understanding with 
the British Government in this matter. I do not 
look forward to any protracted negotiation ; we ought 
to know before long what we are to expect ; but I can- 
not fix a date. 

Meanwhile there is, to my mind, no reason why 
your work on the Canal Bill should be checked or 
retarded in the least, on account of any such nego- 
tiation. . . . For my part I shall always be glad of 
any suggestions you may feel inclined to make, know- 
ing how valuable such suggestions are rendered by 
your wisdom and experience. 

To Henry White 

January 13, 1899. 

It is a matter of the utmost importance that if we 
are to make such an arrangement, it should be done 
at once. In the usual reckless manner of our Senate, 
they are discussing the matter with open doors every 
day, and are getting themselves so balled up with 
their own eloquence that it is greatly to be feared 
they will so commit themselves as to consider them- 
selves bound to reject any arrangement that may be 
made. If you could impress upon our friends in the 
Foreign Office that time is very important and that 
if they see no serious objection to this draft that 



THE FIRST CANAL TREATY 217 

they will at once cable Sir Julian to go on with it, 
it will relieve the subject of very considerable embar- 
rassment. 

We desire no advantage, and I am sure we take 
none in this arrangement. Our only object is to make 
it possible for the Government to take charge and 
build the canal without in any way violating our 
international obligations to England. The plan, as 
you will see, is very general in its terms. I have tried 
to avoid entering into unnecessary details. In fact 
my principal purpose in drawing up the treaty was 
to avoid any contested points or anything which 
would cause acrimonious discussion in the Senate. 
I hope the Foreign Office will see with what sincere 
friendly purpose the treaty has been drawn, and will 
refrain from any changes or amendments, which, 
however meritorious in themselves, might cause the 
rejection of the treaty by exciting the opposition of 
one-third of the Senate. 

February 14, 1899. 

I think it deplorable, that the British Govern- 
ment insists on making the arrangement in the 
Clayton-Bulwer matter depend on the successful 
issue of the Canadian negotiations. The two ques- 
tions have nothing to do with each other. Every in- 
telligent Englishman is ready to admit that the 



2i8 JOHN HAY 

Canal ought to be built, that the United States alone 
will build it, that it cannot be built except as a gov- 
ernment enterprise, that nobody else wants to build 
it, that when built it will be to the advantage of the 
entire civilized world, and this being the case, it is 
hard to see why the settlement of the matter ought to 
depend on the lumber duty or the Alaska boundary. 
It looks as if the matter will fail in this Congress. 
The maritime concession will lapse in October, and 
we shall be confronted with new difficulties in our 
relations with Costa Rica and Nicaragua. 

Sir Julian's conduct in the matter has been every- 
thing that we could desire. While, of course, always 
mindful of the Interests of his country, he has shown 
a breadth of view and a spirit of conciliation which 
would have made the negotiations very easy and 
very agreeable if his opinions had been shared by the 
home government. I only wish he had been at the 
head of the Canadian Commission. 

To Joseph H. Choate 

August 1 8, 1899. 

. . . The Democratic press evidently thinks there Is 
some political capital to be made by denouncing any 
arrangement with England, and they, In common 
with a large number of German newspapers, are 
ready to attack any treaty with England, no matter 



THE FIRST CANAL TREATY 219 

how advantageous to us, as a hostile act towards 
Ireland and Germany. 
The Democratic Convention of Iowa has adopted 

— as you will doubtless see before this reaches you 

— resolutions in this sense, which seem too ridicu- 
lous to treat seriously ; but all these senseless charges 
indicate the intention of the opposition to make a 
party matter of our relations with England, and to 
oppose any treaty we may make with that country. 

Now the irreparable mistake of our Constitution 
puts it into the power of one third + I of the Senate 
to meet with a categorical veto any treaty negoti- 
ated by the President, even though it may have 
the approval of nine tenths of the people of the na- 
tion. If it be true that the Democrats as a body 
are determined that we shall make no arrangement 
with England, we shall have to consider whether it 
is more expedient for us to make a treaty which will 
fail in the Senate, or to wait for a more convenient 
season. 

For my part, I should have no hesitation in making 
a treaty on the basis of a lease and right of way and 
taking the chances of the Senate throwing it out, if 
I could foresee the effect it would have on the vastly 
important elections of next year. The President has 
no great desire for reelection and is ready to take the 
consequences of any action he may think to the 



220 JOHN HAY 

advantage of the country without regard to its effect 
upon himself. His words as I left him yesterday were, 
"If you think best, go ahead and conclude a treaty 
on those lines." 

To Henry White 

September 9, 1899. 

I wish that I could believe that Lord Salisbury 
would let the Clayton-Bulwer convention go through 
independent of Canadian matters. 

Whatever we do, Bryan will attack us as slaves of 
England. All their state conventions put an anti- 
English plank in their platform to curry favor with 
the Irish (whom they want to keep) and the Ger- 
mans whom they want to seduce. It is too disgust- 
ing to have to deal with such sordid liars. 

Our relations with Germany are perfectly civil and 
courteous. They are acting badly about our meats 
and cannot help bullying and swaggering. It is their 
nature. But we get on with them. We are on the 
best of terms about Samoa; Sternberg backed up 
Tripp in everything. So that, to our amazement, 
Germany and we arranged everything perfectly 
harmoniously. It was rather the English Commis- 
sioner who was offish. The Emperor is nervously 
anxious to be on good terms with us — on his own 
terms, Hen entendu. 



THE FIRST CANAL TREATY 221 

September 24, 1899. 

As soon as I can get a clear copy of my letter to 
the Ohio Committee, I will send it to you. . . . You 
will see there is nothing in it incompatible with the 
most friendly relations with England. I simply re- 
fute the Democratic platform's charge that we have 
made "a secret alliance with England." This charge 
was having a serious effect on our Germans and it 
had to be denied. The fact is, a treaty of alliance is 
impossible. It could never get through the Senate. 
As long as I stay here no action shall be taken con- 
trary to my conviction that the one indispensable 
feature of our foreign policy should be a friendly un- 
derstanding with England. But an alliance must 
remain, in the present state of things, an unattainable 
dream. 

Have you seen Bourke Cockran's fool letter to the 
President demanding that we shall side with the Boers 
against England? I declined to answer it, except by 
acknowledging receipt, and he then printed it. All 
the Irish, and many Germans, take the same atti- 
tude. But of course we shall do nothing of the kind. 
I hope, if it comes to blows, that England will make 
quick work of Uncle Paul. Sooner or later, her 
influence must be dominant there, and the sooner 
the better. 



222 JOHN HAY 

To Joseph H. Choate 

January 15, 1900. 

. . . Mr. Hepburn has introduced a bill for the im- 
mediate construction of the Canal, which, if it passes 
the House, Mr. Morgan is quite sanguine he can 
carry through the Senate. This bill is in many re- 
spects highly objectionable, especially as it abso- 
lutely ignores the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, and, in 
fact, in many features, is an absolute violation of it. 
I think we should be in a most unenviable attitude 
before the world if that bill should pass in its present 
form. My own position would be one of very especial 
awkwardness and would raise very serious questions 
as to what would personally be required of me. I 
think we ought to make an effort to arrange the 
matter through diplomatic channels, so that at least 
the Administration would have its skirts clear of any 
complicity in a violent and one-sided abrogation of 
the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. 

Two or three facts seem evident enough. The 
Canal is going to be built, probably by the Nicaragua 
route. Nothing in the nature of the Clayton-Bulwer 
prohibition will finally prevent the building of the 
Canal. As soon as Congress is convinced that the 
people of the country demand the construction of 
the Canal, it will be done. It will be a great bene- 



THE FIRST CANAL TREATY 223 

faction to the entire civilized world. It is hard to say 
whether we or England will profit by it most. It 
would be a deplorable result of all our labor and 
thought on the subject if, by persisting in postponing 
the consideration of this matter until all the Cana- 
dian questions are closed up, England should be 
made to appear in the attitude of attempting to veto 
a work of such world-wide importance, and the worst 
of all for international relations is that the veto would 
not be effective. 

The Secretary and the Ambassador signed their 
treaty on February 5, 1900, but it had a rough pas- 
sage in the Senate. Eager Senators began at once to 
find flaws in the treaty and to offer amendments. 
The Secretary wrote to Senator Lodge : "I hope you 
may see your way to opposing any change in the 
treaty in Committee [on Foreign Relations]. I 
would far rather see it defeated by a minority than 
so changed as virtually to defeat it, by a majority." 
(February 7, 1900.) 

To Whitelaw Reid 

February 7, 1900. 

... It is disheartening to think that what the 
country has wanted and striven for during forty 
years, and at last has attained without an atom of 



224 JOHN HAY 

compensation, should be thrown away through mere 
spite. It is as if you should offer Yale College a mil- 
lion dollars and the trustees should refuse the gift on 
the ground that they wanted a million and a half. 

To Senator C. K. Davis ^ 

February 8, 1900. 

It may be of interest to you and the Committee 
to know that the Ministers from Nicaragua, Costa 
Rica, and Guatemala have expressed their gratifica- 
tion at the conclusion of the Canal Treaty and are 
particularly pleased with the article about fortifica- 
tions which, they say, will make our dealings with 
them, in relation to the Canal, more agreeable and 
easy — their natural susceptibilities having been 
considered, and their apprehensions allayed by that 
clause. 

To Mr. Choate in London, Hay wrote on February 
6: "We signed our treaty and got it into the Senate 
yesterday. And to-day there is the usual hubbub of 
comment, of praise and dispraise. Senator Hoar, you 
will regret to hear, thinks that we have been unmind- 
ful of the honor of our eountry and the glory of the 
flag, and various other gentlemen think that we are 

^ Cushman K. Davis, Senator from Minnesota, chairman of the 
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. 



THE FIRST CANAL TREATY 225 

derelict in our duty in having got a whole loaf and not 
having demanded two." 

An unidentified correspondent sent him a letter of 
criticism which called out this appealing reply : — 

To ? 

February 12, 1900. 

Et tu! Cannot you leave a few things to the Presi- 
dent and the Senate, who are charged with them 
by the Constitution? 

As to "Sea Power" and the Monroe Doctrine, we 
did not act without consulting the best living au- 
thorities on those subjects. 

Do you really think the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty 
preferable to the one now before the Senate? There 
is no third issue, except dishonor. Elkins and Petti- 
grew say " Dishonor be damned." I hardly think you 
will. 

Please do not answer this — but think about it 
awhile. 

To Joseph H. Choate 

March 7, 1900. ■ 

We have a clear majority, I think, in favor of all j 
of them, but as the Fathers, in their wisdom, saw fit 
to ordain that the kickers should rule forever, the 
chances are always two to one against any govern- 
ment measure passing. 



226 JOHN HAY 

It is a curious state of things. The howling luna- 
tics, like Mason and Allen and Pettigrew, are always 
on hand, while our friends are cumbered with other 
cares and most of the time away. "W" has been 
divorcing his wife; Morgan is fighting for his life in 
Alabama; Cullom, ditto in Illinois; even when Provi- 
dence takes a hand in the game, our folks are re- 
strained, by "Senatorial Courtesy," " from accepting 
His favors." Last week "X" had delirium tremens ; 
Bacon broke his ribs; Pettigrew had the grippe, and 
Hale ran off to New York on " private business," and 
the whole Senate stopped work until they got around 
again. I have never struck a subject so full of psycho- 
logical interest as the official mind of a Senator. 

." During the next month Hay watched, with alter- 
nate resentment, sarcasm, and regret, the Senate at 
work spoiling, as he thought, the treaty by amend- 
ments. At last, when the amended measure passed, 
he sent his resignation to the President. 

To President McKinley 

Department of State, 
Washington, March 13, 1900. 

Dear ]\1r. President: — 

The action of the Senate indicates views so widely 
divergent from mine in matters affecting, as I think, 
the national welfare and honor, that I fear my power 



THE FIRST CANAL TREATY 227 

to serve you in business requiring the concurrence 
of that body is at an end. I cannot help fearing also 
that the newspaper attacks upon the State Depart- 
ment, which have so strongly influenced the Senate, 
may be an injury to you, if I remain in the Cabinet. 

I therefore hand you my resignation as Secretary 
of State. 

I need not say with what profound regret I shall 
sever our official relations. I shall carry into private 
life the deepest sense of obligation, not only for all 
your personal kindness, but for the confidence and 
the powerful support you have given to all efforts to 
improve the service, to extend the influence and the 
commerce of the country, and to promote in every 
way its prosperity. 

Yours faithfully, 

(Signed) John Hay. 

McKinley to Hay 

Executive Mansion, 
Washington, March 13, 1900. 

Dear Mr. Secretary Hay, — 

I return your resignation. Had I known the con- 
tents of the letter which you handed me this morning, 
I would have declined to receive or consider it. 

Nothing could be more unfortunate than to have 
you retire from the Cabinet. The personal loss would 



228 JOHN HAY 

be great, but the public loss even greater. Your ad- 
ministration of the State Department has had my 
warm approval. As in all matters you have taken 
my counsel, I will cheerfully bear whatever criticism 
or condemnation may come. Your record consti- 
tutes one of the most important and interesting 
pages of our diplomatic history. We must bear the 
atmosphere of the hour. It will pass away. We must 
continue working on the lines of duty and honor. 
Conscious of high purpose and honorable effort, we 
cannot yield our posts however the storm may rage. 
With hearty assurance of appreciation and con- 
fidence I am 

Yours devotedly, 
(Signed) William McKinley. 

Hon. John Hay, 
Sec. of State. 

The Secretary's desire to resign was not prompted 
by personal pique, but by chagrin at seeing a project 
of incalculable benefit rejected by a body, not merely 
incompetent, but so immovably hostile that he feared 
it would be useless for him to struggle against it 
further. He always dreaded also lest through any 
act of his, or through personal animosity against 
him, the prestige of the President himself should 
suffer. His lack of robust health made him over- 



THE FIRST CANAL TREATY 229 

sensitive and probably increased his constitutional 
tendency to periodic fits of depression. Nevertheless, 
upon the President's immediate return of his resig- 
nation, coupled with words of warm appreciation and 
confidence in him, he went ahead manfully. 

He writes his son Adelbert on March 17, 1900: — 
"... I am horribly busy, and am having, now in 
my old age, my first experience of filthy newspaper 
abuse. I have made some mistakes, but they have 
not got onto them. The things they blackguard me 
for are the ones where I am absolutely sure I am 
right. But all this will pass away." 

To understand Ha3^'s almost morbid depression at 
the failure of his treaty, we must remember that he 
regarded the securing of that compact as of supreme 
importance, both for the carrying out of Amer- 
ica's Imperial destiny, and for the binding together 
of England and the United States. To his mind 
the great fact to be striven for was the friendly an- 
nulment by England of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. 
He had succeeded in persuading England to do this; 
the matters of detail over which the Senate and his 
other critics quarreled seemed to him unessential. 
To jeopard the great project for the sake of mere 
minor considerations, was wanton. Not obstinacy, 
therefore, nor self-inflation caused him to condemn 
the opponents of the treaty. 



230 JOHN HAY 

We can see, however, that they were wiser than 
he. If the United States were to build, own, and 
direct the Canal — and that was Hay's desire — no 
treaty should be ratified which left any doubt as to 
their rights ; and such a pledge as that which bound 
them not to fortify the Canal ought not to be made. 
Perhaps Hay, although he did not actually define 
it to himself, assumed that all those "non-essen- 
tials" would be adjusted later, when experience in 
the actual working of the Canal should show what 
was needed. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

THE BOXER ORDEAL AND THE OPEN DOOR 

THE winter and spring of 1900 crowded new 
business upon him. The situation in China, 
which had grown more and more angry since the 
Germans pounced upon Kiao-chau in 1897, now 
threatened an outburst. The Boer War in South 
Africa indirectly affected American poHtics by giving 
Irish and German-Americans an excuse for heckhng 
England at a time when the McKinley Administra- 
tion was trying to arrange with the English Govern- 
ment a friendly settlement of long-standing disputes. 
The insurrection of the Filipinos; the status of Cuba; 
the excitement of the Central American Republics 
at the prospect of an Isthmian canal; secret negotia- 
tions for the purchase of the Danish West Indies, and 
the campaign for the nomination of presidential 
candidates, were among the business on the Secre- 
tary's docket. I cannot do more here than quote a 
few passages from his letters showing his position on 
some of these matters. 

This extract refers to the Boers, whose baffling 
resistance to enormously superior British forces was 
not properly admired by the Secretary. 



232 JOHN HAY 

To Henry Adams 

June 15, 1900. 

What do you think now of our poor dear British? 
Was there ever seen anything Uke it since Xenophon? 
The sHm Boers flanked out of Bloemfontein, Croon- 
stadt, the Vaal, Johannesburg, and Pretoria, not to 
mention Laing's Nek and other places, and not los- 
ing a man or a mule, a gun or a cart. It looks now as 
if Oom Paul will get to Lydenburg with his whole 
army intact — bar Cronje — having put hors de 
combat a force fully equal to his own, with every 
ounce of his material saved. 

I have the greatest admiration for the Boers' 
smartness, but it is their bravery that our idiotic 
public is snivelling over. If they were only as brave 
as they are slim, the war would have ended long ago 
by their extermination. We do occasionally kill a 
Filipino, but what man has ever yet seen a dead 
Boer? Your friend Bryan . . . says the Boer War is 
an issue in our campaign — I suppose because the 
British are 16 to i. 

The serious thing is the discovery — now past 
doubt — that the British have lost all skill in fight- 
ing ; and the whole world knows it, and is regulating 
itself accordingly. It is a portentous fact, altogether 
deplorable in my opinion; for their influence on the 



THE BOXER ORDEAL 233 

whole made for peace and civilization. If Russia 
and Germany arrange things, the balance is lost for 
ages. 

The abuse which the Administration, and particu- 
larly the Secretary of State, suffered for its friendli- 
ness toward England caused Hay anxiety. With a 
hostile Senate on one side and an irresponsible but 
perniciously active horde of demagogues on the 
other, he feared that his projects would be hopelessly 
shattered. While he betrayed neither resentment nor 
trepidation to the enemy, he spoke out almost with 
ferocity to his few confidents. 

Uninformed historical writers have recently re- 
vived an old rumor to the effect that the United 
States made, in Hay's time, a secret alliance with 
England. After his denial which follows, this silly 
assertion ought to be allowed to stay dead. 

To Senator McMillan 

July 3, 1900. 

The Administration has observed the laws of neu- 
trality strictly, . . . You ask me if there is a secret 
alliance between Great Britain and the United 
States. You know, of course, that there can be no 
secret alliance between this country and any other. 
The Senate of the United States must be a party to 



234 JOHN HAY 

It, if any such exists. None exists. None has been 
suggested on either side. None has been thought 
of. 

To J. W. Foster 

June 23, 1900. 

... What can be done in the present diseased state 
of the public mind? There is such a mad-dog hatred 
of England prevalent among newspapers and poli- 
ticians that anything we should now do in China to 
take care of our imperiled interests, would be set 
down to "subservience to Great Britain." France 
is Russia's harlot — to her own grievous damage. 
Germany we could probably get on our side by suffi- 
cient concessions, and perhaps, with England, Ger- 
many, and Japan, we might manage to save our 
skins. But such a proceeding would make all our 
fools throw fits in the market-place — and the fools 
are numerous. 

We had great trouble to prevent the convention 
from declaring in favor of the Boers and of the annex- 
ation of Canada. Every morning I receive letters 
cursing me for doing nothing, and others cursing me 
for being "the tool of England against our good 
friend Russia." All I have ever done with England is 
to have wrung great concessions out of her with no 
compensation. And yet, these idiots say I 'm not an 



THE BOXER ORDEAL 235 

American because I don't say, "To hell with the 
Queen," at every breath. 

Cassini has gone to Europe ; Cambon was to have 
sailed last week, but has stayed over for a few days; 
Holleben is absolutely without initiative, and in 
mortal terror of his Kaiser. Pauncefote has appar- 
ently no power to act, nor even to talk. And even if 
he had, every Senator I see says, "For God's sake, 
don't let it appear we have any understanding with 
England." How can I make bricks without straw? 
That we should be compelled to refuse the assistance 
of the greatest power in the world, in carrying out 
our own policy, because all Irishmen are Democrats 
and some Germans are fools — is enough to drive a 
man mad. Yet we shall do what we can. 

To Senator M. A. Hanna 

August 2, 1900. 

I am sorry to hear what you say about the Cana- 
dian boundary question. . . . The matter was not 
carried on by me privately and alone as the Sun 
says. Every step of the negotiations was considered 
by the Cabinet and approved. And the entire Joint 
High Commission — that is the American side of it 
— recommended what was done as the best possible 
temporary settlement of the case. All the present 
row is being made by the New York Sim. 



236 JOHN HAY 

P.S. The whole thing is, Paul Dana [Editor of the 
Sun] wants to get me out of the Cabinet. It is his 
fourth attempt. If you will help him, I shall be 
greatly obliged. I am not stuck on my job. 

In the middle of the summer, there suddenly 
flared up in China a tragedy which fastened the 
world's attention. The Boxers, a Chinese associa- 
tion whose aim it was to rid China of foreigners, 
started, with the apparent collusion of high officials, 
a campaign of extermination. On June 14 they as- 
sailed the foreign Legations at Peking, and during 
the next eight weeks they blocked the relief of the 
beleaguered Occidentals, who defended themselves 
with unflagging endurance and valor in the British 
compound. These numbered in all only about five 
hundred persons, including the women and children. 
Their ammunition was scanty, their provisions in- 
sufficient. 

About June 20 the outside world ceased to have 
news of them. An appalling silence brooded over the 
Legations week after week. On June 15 Secretary 
Hay, little suspecting that the crisis had already 
come, telegraphed to General Conger, the American 
Minister: "Do you need more force? Communicate 
with the Admiral and report." No answer. In vain 
did Mr. Hay try to get tidings through Mr. Wu, the 



THE BOXER ORDEAL 237 

Chinese Minister in Washington. Foreign Govern- 
ments were equally unsuccessful. Then Mr. Hay 
appealed to Li Hung Chang, the Chinese Viceroy of 
greatest influence, to send the following message 
through the Boxer lines to Conger in the Legations : 
"July II. Communicate tidings bearer." Days 
passed, but brought no reply. The world began to 
believe the rumors which had been circulating for 
weeks, that the Boxers had captured the Legations, 
and slaughtered all the foreigners. 

At last on July 20, Secretary Hay received a 
despatch, dated July 16: "For one month we have 
been besieged in British Legation under continued 
shot and shell from Chinese troops. Quick relief only 
can prevent general massacre. — Conger." 

Although this despatch came in the State Depart- 
ment's cipher, many persons doubted its genuine- 
ness, for they argued that if the Boxers had taken 
the Legation, they might have discovered the cipher 
book also. Accordingly, Secretary Hay hit upon a 
clever device, and telegraphed on July 21: "Des- 
patch received. Authenticity doubted. Answer this 
giving your sister's name. Report attitude and posi- 
tion of Chinese Government." In due course a reply 
came, with the name of Mr. Conger's sister, which 
it was hardly probable that the wiliest Boxer could 
know. 



238 JOHN HAY 

Convinced that the besieged were still alive, Mr. 
Hay now urged Li Hung Chang that the Ministers 
be allowed to communicate freely with their gov- 
ernments. Li answered that he and the other Vice- 
roys had petitioned the Imperial Government either 
to do this or to deliver the Ministers, under safe 
escort, at Tien-Tsin. 

" I told him " (Minister Wu), Hay wrote President 
McKinley on July 29, "that we could not consent to 
any such arrangement as the latter alternative ; that 
if the Chinese Government was able to send them 
safely to Tien-Tsin, it was able to put us into free 
communication with them; that if the Chinese Gov- 
ernment undertook without previous arrangement 
to deliver them and failed by any accident, nothing 
would convince the foreign Governments that the 
Chinese had acted in good faith. 

"He [Wu] finally consented to telegraph Li again 
to-day. . . . He is greatly perturbed in spirit, but 
seems to be acting squarely with us. He admits there 
are many things he cannot explain. He does not 
attempt to account for the silence of the Legations, 
but believes the Ministers, except Ketteler,^ are 
alive." 

On August 14, Conger cabled Hay: "Do not put 
trust in Li Hung Chang. He is an unscrupulous tool 

^ The German Minister had been shot by a Chinese assassin. 



THE BOXER ORDEAL 239 

of the cruel Dowager. There can be no adequate 
negotiation with Peking until the high authors of 
this great crime have surrendered. Imperial troops 
firing on us daily. Our losses 60 killed, 120 wounded. 
We have reached half rations horse-flesh. Have food 
only for a fortnight. 6 children have died. Many 
others sick." 

That same day the relief expedition entered Peking 
and saved the Legationers. 

A week earlier Secretary Hay, on the brink of an 
alarming collapse, caused by the intense strain and 
by the volume and difficulty of his work for nearly a 
year, was forced to take refuge in his summer home 
at Newbury, New Hampshire. From his sick-bed he 
directed the chief business of the State Department 
for several weeks. "I should soon get back to my 
usual form," he wrote Senator Fairbanks, "if I 
could keep my thoughts away from the thousand 
worries of this crazy old world of ours." 

When he began to convalesce, he confessed to his 
oldest friend, Nicolay: "I did not imagine when I 
left Washington, how bad it was. If I had stayed 
another day, I should not have got away at all. I 
have had two or three slight complications — the 
last and most agreeable is a lumbago which makes 
my walk slantendicular, so I don't walk much. . . . 
The thing that has aged me and broken me up has 



240 JOHN HAY 

been the attitude of the minority of the Senate which 
brings to nought all the work a State Department 
can do. . . . But what is the use of all this buzzing? 
You and I cannot make a new Constitution." 

Hay might have consoled himself with the thought 
that probably to him, more than to any one else, 
was due the saving of the Legations. Almost alone 
he believed that they were still alive and so spared 
no effort to reach them. His trust kept Secretary 
Root on the alert, so that when the first telegram 
came from Peking, Mr. Root, without a day's delay, 
ordered General Chaffee to proceed to China and 
command the American relief expedition. 

The Boxer upheaval interrupted and made more 
difficult Hay's endeavor to preserve the Chinese 
Empire. After the Japanese defeated the Chinese in 
1894, China lay like a stranded whale, apparently 
dead, or dying, and the chief Powers of Europe came, 
like fishermen after blubber, and took here a prov- 
ince and there a harbor, and were callous to the fact 
that their victim was not dead. They not only 
seized territory, but forced from the Chinese con- 
cessions for mines, railways, commercial privileges, 
and spheres of influence. From the time that Hay 
became Secretary, he strove to keep intact the polit- 
ical integrity of China and to persuade all the Powers 
to maintain there the policy of the Open Door. 



THE OPEN DOOR 241 

As early as March 16, 1899, Hay wrote confiden- 
tially to a New York editor, who was anxious for the 
protection of American interests : — • 

To Paul Dana 

March 16, 1899. 

. . . We are, of course, opposed to the dismember- 
ment of that Empire, and we do not think that the 
public opinion of the United States would justify 
this Government in taking part in the great game of 
spoliation now going on. At the same time we are 
keenly alive to the importance of safeguarding our 
great commercial interests in that Empire and our 
representatives there have orders to watch closely 
everything that may seem calculated to injure us, 
and to prevent it by energetic and timely representa- 
tions. We declined to support the demand of Italy 
for a lodgment there, and at the same time we were 
not prepared to assure China that we would join her 
in repelling that demand by armed force. We do not 
consider our hands tied for future eventualities, but 
for the present we think our best policy is one of 
vigilant protection of our commercial interests, with- 
out formal alliances with other Powers interested. 

During the summer the Secretary's instructions 
to Mr. Conger bore the same burden. But as the 



242 JOHN HAY 

European Powers continued making mutual bar- 
gains for the partition of the Empire, on September 
6, 1899, Mr. Hay finally addressed to London, Ber- 
lin, and St. Petersburg his famous note on the Open 
Door. He did not originate the phrase, and the fact 
of free commercial intercourse with all nations had 
existed here and there in Europe during many cen- 
turies. But in applying the word to China, Hay 
defined a policy which would affect the political not 
less than the commercial status of four hundred 
millions of Chinese, and of the rest of the world 
which had relations with them. 

The American circular requested each of the Eu- 
ropean Governments to respect the existing treaty 
ports and vested interests; to allow the Chinese 
tariff to be maintained and be collected in the re- 
spective spheres of influence ; and not to discriminate 
against other foreigners in port and railroad rates. 
The Powers addressed did not reply promptly. 
England was the first to accede; the others, which 
stated that they sympathized with the principle, re- 
frained from formally endorsing it. Mr. Hay, after 
sufficient delay, sent word to each that in view of the 
favorable replies from the others, he regarded that 
Power's acceptance as "final and definitive." And 
he subsequently addressed France, Italy, and Japan. 

Next to England, Hay regarded Russia as the most 



THE OPEN DOOR 243 

important party to the agreement. Russia would 
sign no paper, but her Foreign Minister, Count 
Mouravieff, gave an oral promise to do what France 
did. Later, he "flew into a passion" and insisted 
upon it that Russia would never bind herself in that 
way; that whatever she did she would do alone 
and without the concurrence of France. "Still," Hay 
adds, "he did say it, he did promise, and he did enter 
into just that engagement. It is possible that he did 
so thinking that France would not come in, and that 
other Powers would not. If now they choose to take 
a stand in opposition to the entire civilized world, we 
shall then make up our mind what to do about it. 
At present I am not bothering much." (To Henry 
White, April 2, 1900.) 

By what was one of the most adroit strokes of 
modern diplomacy. Hay thus accustomed the world 
to accept the Open Door as the only decent policy 
for it to adopt toward China. Not one of the Govern- 
ments concerned wished to agree to it; each saw 
more profit to itself in exploiting what it had already 
secured and in joining in the scramble for more; but 
not one of them, after Hay had declared for the 
Open Door, dared openly to oppose the doctrine. It 
was as if, in a meeting, he had asked all those who 
believed in telling the truth to stand up: the liars 
would not have kept their seats. 



244 JOHN HAY 

Hardly, however, had the world begun to accustom 
itself to the ideal of the Open Door, before the Boxer 
Rising intervened, and before this was put down 
demands for vengeance on the Chinese rose from 
many quarters. The German Emperor, whose Min- 
ister Ketteler had been shot in Peking, sent out a 
"punitive" expedition under Count Waldersee, bid- 
ding his soldiers to give no quarter and to comport 
themselves so like Huns that for a thousand years to 
come no Chinese would dare to look a German in the 
face. Other Powers uttered their wrath more guard- 
edly; but they all suspected, and probably hoped, 
that the new situation would justify them in dismem- 
bering China. 

To prevent this Hay worked indefatigably. He 
sent Mr. W. W. Rockhill — whom he regarded as 
being, next to Mr. Henry White, the best diplomat 
in the service — to China. He made his note of 
July 3 the basis of American action. As Russia 
occupied Niu-chwang, he sent to her a serious Inquiry, 
to which he "received a reply, most positive and 
satisfactory, that their occupation was military and 
temporary and that our commerical interests should 
not in any case be limited or injured. Russia," he 
adds, ''has been more outspoken than before in her 
adhesion to the Open Door." (September 8, 1900.) 

"The approach of the much-prepared Waldersee," 



THE OPEN DOOR 245 

wrote one of Hay's colleagues, ''seemed a peril. 
There was the danger that after all the Emperor's 
windy eloquence he might feel the necessity of kick- 
ing up a row to justify the appointment of Waldersee. 
I was very glad therefore that the Russians gave us 
an opportunity to say that we would stay under a 
definite understanding and not otherwise. It begins 
to look as if there was some chance for the Open 
Door after all." 

This was Hay's view also. He wished to hold the 
other Powers to their adherence to the Open Door, 
and at the same time to avoid the semblance of or- 
ganizing an Anti-Russian coalition. To exact from 
the Chinese indemnities and the punishment of the 
chief culprits appeared to the Secretary the best 
sort of retribution; but the Germans went much 
further. Indeed, Count Waldersee 's army obeyed 
with relish the Kaiser's command and played the 
congenial role of Huns in several districts. 

"Ever^^thing appeared to be going well until this 
promenade of Waldersee's to Tao Ping," Hay 
writes on October 16, "which I fear will have very 
unfavorable results upon the rest of China. The 
Great Viceroys, to secure whose assistance was our 
first effort and our success, have been standing by 
us splendidly for the last four months. How much 
longer they can hold their turbulent populations 



246 JOHN HAY 

quiet in the face of constant incitements to disturb- 
ance which Germany and Russia are giving is hard 
to conjecture. . . . 

"The success we had in stopping that first pre- 
posterous German movement when the whole world 
seemed likely to join in it, when the entire press of 
the Continent and a great many on this side were in 
favor of it, will always be a source of gratification," 
he confides in the same letter to an intimate friend. 
"The moment we acted, the rest of the world paused, 
and finally came over to our ground ; and the German 
Government, which is generally brutal but seldom 
silly, recovered its senses, climbed down off its perch, 
and presented another proposition which was exactly 
in line with our position." (October i6, 1900.) 

In spite of his having warded off the worst dan- 
ger, the Secretary was both puzzled and somewhat 
troubled by the drawing together of England and 
Germany, because he feared that they intended, at 
the critical moment, to wring other exactions from 
China. It came out later, however, that their mutual 
purpose was to check Russian aggression in Man- 
churia, and that Germany wished to prevent England 
from enjoying a monopoly of the Yangtse Valley 
trade. Before the end of the year the Powers were 
sufficiently agreed among themselves to join in draw- 
ing up a note in which they laid their demand be- 



THE OPEN DOOR ^ 247 

fore the Emperor of China, who perforce yielded to 
them. 

The negotiations went on for a long time yet : but 
this was the culmination of the diplomatic battle, in 
which Secretary Hay won the most brilliant triumph 
of his career. 

Into the intricacies of the efforts to prevent China 
from being vivisected after the Boxer troubles, I will 
not enter. Hay's part in saving that Empire alive 
was greater than that of any other statesman. He 
made a magnificent bluff — which the United States 
could not have backed up if it had been called — 
and he won. Two quotations will bring before the 
reader the Secretary's state of mind in the autumn 
of 1900. First, as to the policy he upheld: — 

"About China, it is the devil's own mess. We 
cannot possibly publish all the facts without breaking 
off relations with several Powers. We shall have to 
do the best we can, and take the consequences, which 
will be pretty serious, I do not doubt. 'Give and 
take ' — the axiom of diplomacy to the rest of the 
world — is positively forbidden to us, by both the 
Senate and public opinion. We must take what we 
can and give nothing — which greatly narrows our 
possibilities. 

" I take it, you agree with us that we are to limit 
as far as possible our military operations in China, 



248 JOHN HAY 

to withdraw our troops at the earliest day consistent 
with our obligations, and in the final adjustment to 
do everything we can for the integrity and reform of 
China, and to hold on like grim death to the Open 
Door. ..." (September 20, 1900.) 

From the next most confidential outpouring to 
Mr. Adams, we have Hay's private opinion of the 
other nations with whom he had to deal in the 
Chinese Imbroglio. 

To Henry Adams 

November 21, 1900. 

. . . What a business this has been in China ! So far 
we have got on by being honest and naif — I do not 
clearly see where we are to come the delayed crop- 
per? But It will come. At least we are spared the 
Infamy of an alliance with Germany. I would rather, 
I think, be the dupe of China, than the chum of the 
Kaiser. Have you noticed how the world will take 
anything nowadays from a German? Biilow said 
yesterday in substance — "We have demanded of 
China everything we can think of. If we think of 
anything else we will demand that, and be d — d to 
you" — and not a man in the world kicks. 

My heart Is heavy about John Bull. Do you 
twig his attitude to Germany? When the Anglo- 
German pact came out, I took a day or two to find 



THE OPEN DOOR 249 

out what it meant. I soon learned from Berlin that 
it meant a horrible practical joke on England. From 
London I found out what I had suspected, but what 
it astounded me, after all, to be assured of — that 
THEY DID NOT KNOw! Germany proposed it, they 
saw no harm in it, and signed. When Japan joined 
the pact, I asked them why. They said, "We don't 
know, only if there is any fun going on, we want to 
be in." Cassini is furious — which may be because 
he has not been let into the joke. 

Hay's achievement in this Chinese contest gave 
him an immense prestige. Throughout the world he 
was now looked upon as a statesman honest, dis- 
interested, resourceful, and brilliant. His advocacy 
of arbitration, which was preached at the first Hague 
Peace Conference in 1899, had already singled him 
out. The enthusiasm with which he received the 
Czar's project of the Hague Conference and the 
fervor with which he instructed Mr. Andrew D. 
White and the other American delegates to promote 
the great objects of the Conference did much to in- 
sure its success. For it was indispensable that the 
cooperation of the United States, the great nation 
not entangled in Europe's feuds, should be secured. 
By his work in China Secretary Hay carried out in 
practice what he had professed at The Hague. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 

THE question for the American voters to decide 
in the presidential election of 1900 was, logi- 
cally, Imperialism. Since 1896 Fate had thrust 
that issue, with all its adjuncts, to the front. Im- 
perialism involved not only constitutional questions, 
such as the right of the American Government to 
hold protectorates and subject peoples, but also, 
what we may consider morally a deeper problem, in 
the relation of so-called "superior" to "inferior" 
races. Since land -grabbing began, some twenty 
years previously, European nations had appropriated 
territory in Africa and Asia wherever they could, ir- 
respective of the choice of the inhabitants of those 
continents. This process of seizure and colonization 
was speciously named "taking up the White Man's 
Burden." In reality, the White Man was not a phil- 
anthropist: he would treat the Black, Yellow, or 
Brown Man humanely if it was convenient, but if 
the dark-skinned resisted, the White Man would de- 
stroy him. Biology, according to the scientific cant 
of the day, required no less, in order that the Fittest 
might survive. 



LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 251 

This doctrine seemed simple when appHed to 
Bantus or Borneans or Basutos or Burmese, but 
what if one of the great European Powers, mad with 
the unbridled madness of egomania, should announce 
that it was the superior people and that biology re- 
quired it to conquer the other civilized nations, to 
impose upon them its dominion and its doctrines, or 
if they demurred, to exterminate them? 

The American people were cunningly prevented 
from expressing their verdict on Imperialism, be- 
cause Mr. Bryan, again the Democratic nominee, 
again raised the bogey of Free Silver. Professing him- 
self a champion of peace, he nevertheless was quick 
to clutch a colonel's commission when the Spanish 
War broke out, with an eye, evidently, to the soldier 
vote in the future. So, too, although in some of his 
utterances he let it be inferred that he hated Imperi- 
alism, he persuaded, if common report can be trusted, 
hesitating Senators to vote to ratify the Treaty of 
Paris, by which the United States took over the 
Philippines. 

The Republican nominee was President McKinley. 
However opinion might differ as to his policies, there 
was general approval of his personal traits. He made 
a dignified President. He treated Republicans and 
Democrats who came before him with equal courtesy. 
He knew how to say no to applicants without offend- 



252 JOHN HAY 

ing them. Six different Senators might in turn press 
a claim of six of their proteges and Mr. McKinley, 
without duplicity, would send each Senator away 
believing that his man would be appointed; and all 
the while the President had settled on another can- 
didate. His good intentions, his understanding of 
the hearts, and above all of the minds, of average 
American citizens, were indubitable. The Republican 
Party, having backed him up in all the novel en- 
terprises since 1897, could do no less than support 
him for a second term. Quite unwillingly, the man- 
agers of the party found themselves compelled, by 
a cyclone of popular enthusiasm, to submit to the 
nomination of Theodore Roosevelt for Vice-Presi- 
dent. 

Mr. Hay's health did not permit him to return to 
Washington until October, 1900, but he watched the 
progress of the presidential campaign somewhat anx- 
iously, because he believed that the position of the 
State Department on international questions might 
influence voters against Mr. McKinley. The pub- 
lic knew the rebuffs that had been received — the 
failure of the Alaskan negotiations and of the Hay- 
Pauncefote Treaty ; it did not know of all of its suc- 
cesses, and, as Hay said, it would not be becoming 
in him to boast of them, much less to publish them 
prematurely. 



LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 253 

The enemies of the Administration made Anglo- 
phobia one of their trump cards. 

" No sane man," Hay wrote to a friend abroad, 
"can appreciate the stupid and mad malignancy of 
our Anglophobia. It is not merely the Yellows, the 
Irish, and the Tammany people, — they are a matter 
of course, — but by far the worst of the lot is the 

[New York ], which claims to be supporting 

McKinley, and whose furious attacks on the State 
Department from time to time scare our own man- 
agers out of their five wits. Just now they are hav- 
ing all colors of fits over our modus vivendi in Alaska. 
That was, as you know, one of the best bargains for 
us ever made. I cannot even defend myself by saying 
how good the bargain was. I do not want to publish 
to the world the details of an engagement some of 
whose features are as yet Incomplete, and it is abom- 
inable form for a Government to brag of its diplo- 
matic success. So I must let the tempest of dust and 
foul air blow itself out." 

Mr. Hay was In the condition where everything 
hostile, however slight, rasped his always sensitive 
nature. 

To Samuel Mather 

September 28, 1900. 
I cannot figure Bryan's election, no matter how I 
try. The coal strike, which was unquestionably en- 



254 JOHN HAY 

gineered by , will lose us a big block of votes 

— but they will be mostly in Pennsylvania where we 
can best afford it. The Mugwump defection headed 
by Olney and Schurz amounts to nothing in the way 
of votes at home or in other States. I think the field 
is pretty well taken care of — only Indiana, of the 
important, so-called pivotal States, seems doubtful 
and Fairbanks thinks we have got it. We have cer- 
tainly made great gains west of the Mississippi, and 
our losses in the East are not sufficient to lose us any 
States except perhaps Maryland. I shall be greatly 
deceived if it should turn out otherwise — and I have 
no personal interest at stake. For I have definitely 
made up my mind not to continue in office. The 
attitude of the Senate makes it impossible for me to 
carry out the policies I hoped for when I entered the 
Department, and office-holding per se has no attrac- 
tion for me. I shall be sorry to part with the Presi- 
dent, who has stood nobly by me in everything; but 
there will always be 34% of the Senate on the black- 
guard side of every question that comes before 
them. . . . 

October 2, 1900, 

The newspapers have been unusually busy invent- 
ing lies. They said I was dying; that I was perfectly 
well but sulking because the President had turned me 
down ; that I was in a deadly quarrel with Root ; that 



LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 255 

I had at last come back, after extorting from the 
President a promise not to meddle again with foreign 
affairs. What can be the use or the motive for such 
ingenious falsehoods? I do not believe they can in- 
fluence a vote for Bryan. 

"I think the canvass is going on very satisfactor- 
ily," the Secretary wrote Ambassador Porter on 
October 2. " Hanna got considerable of a panic early 
in the canvass, but I imagine it was nothing but a 
money panic, and if, after Bryan's letter of accept- 
ance, the men who have money refuse to do anything 
in their own defense, they will deserve to be robbed 
to the enamel of their teeth." (October 2, 1900.) 

To Samuel Mather 

October 8, 1900. 

Every day increases the chances of a big electoral 
majority for McKinley. The attitude of the Staats- 
Zeitung in New York will be worth a good many votes 
to him, and the tremendous odds of two and a half 
to one seem now to be increasing up to three to one. 
Of course, the fellows who bet know no more about it 
than the others, but there is a sort of brutish instinct 
among gamblers which is rarely at fault when the 
odds are so great as they are to-day. A letter just 
received from Lodge, who has been all over the 



256 JOHN HAY 

United States stumping, tells me that, although our 
majorities in the East, where they were unnecessarily 
great, will be reduced, we shall get so many States we 
lost in 1896 that the majority in the Electoral Col- 
lege will be greater than ever. 

October 31, 1900. 

This last week of the campaign is getting on every 
body's nerves. There is a vague uneasiness among 
Republicans, which there is nothing in the elaborate 
canvasses of the Committee to account for. I do 
not believe defeat to be possible, though it is evident 
that this last month of Bryan, roaring out his des- 
perate appeals to hate and envy, is having its effect 
on the dangerous classes. Nothing so monstrous has 
as yet been seen in our history. He starts with the 
Solid South where he does not need to spend a post- 
age stamp: he has Tammany with its vast vote and 
big corruption fund; and every walking delegate in 
the country; and of course adds to that all the regular 
Democratic vote of the North. We have an awful 
handicap to overcome. 

As the campaign drew to a close, however, signs of 
McKinley's reelection became unmistakable. Among 
the Anti-Imperialists there was an ominous lack 
of harmony, as appeared in the public utterances 



LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 257 

of two of the most conspicuous among them. Hay 
summed up their contradictory attitudes in this brief 
paragraph to the President : — 

**Did you ever hear of anything so ridiculous as 
that [Charles Francis] Adams and [Carl] Schurz cor- 
respondence? Schurz thinks that it will be best to 
elect a lunatic President, and trust to a sane Congress 
to keep him in order. Adams thinks that the best 
way would be to elect a sane man President, and have 
a lunatic Congress for him to control ; and neither of 
them seems to realize that it makes not the slightest 
difference what both of them think." (November I, 
1900.) 

To another correspondent Hay commented with 
equal freedom : — 

"Why should anybody want to vote for Bryan 
this year? I can perfectly understand a man refusing 
Mr. McKinley, on well-known principles of human 
conduct, — but I cannot — never could — compre- 
hend that polarization of hatred that induces a man, 
because he hated Blaine or McKinley or Gladstone, 
to adore Cleveland or Bryan or Disraeli. What a 
spectacle the Schurzes and Godkins present! Asking 
people to vote for Bryan because the Republicans 
can tie him up, and prevent him from raising Cain 
when he gets in." 

The election soon put an end to all doubt. Hay 



258 JOHN HAY 

wrote to his son Adelbert, who was American consul 
at Pretoria, that it "went off magnificently. It was, 
in almost every State of the Union, better than we 
expected. ... It is the most overwhelming vic- 
tory in this generation." 

The failure to come to an agreement with England 
over the Isthmian Canal weighed upon Hay's con- 
science. England, having rejected the amendments 
to the first treaty, and being impeded by the Cana- 
dian negotiations, seemed to be in an unpropltlous 
mood. But Hay would not be balked. After waiting 
awhile he Instructed the American Ambassador to 
inquire what could be done. 

When Mr. Choate sounded Lord Salisbury as to 
reopening negotiations on this topic, the Prime 
Minister again consented willingly, saying that the 
negotiations might be carried on as before at Wash- 
ington, and stipulating only that no nation should be 
discriminated against in the tolls charged for using 
the Canal. 

Having this assurance Secretary Hay proceeded to 
confer with Lord Pauncefote, and by the end of 
April, 1901, he sent the project of the new treaty to 
Mr. Choate, who, with Lord Lansdowne, had a large 
if not preponderating share In bringing the treaty 
to Its final form. Hay explained that the most im- 



LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 259 

portant change involved the question of fortifying 
the Canal. 

This point, over which there had been the hottest 
debate the year before, was now passed over in si- 
lence. "I hope it will not be considered import- 
ant enough for the British Government to take ex- 
ceptions to their omission," Hay wrote. "The fact is 
that no Government, not absolutely imbecile, would 
ever think of fortifying the Canal, and yet there are 
members of the Senate so morbidly sensitive on 
the subject, that it might seriously injure the pas- 
sage of the treaty through the Senate if this provi- 
sion were retained after the omission of the Davis 
Amendment." ^ 

Secretary Hay underrated the weight of some of 
the Senators who had disapproved of the terms of 
the first treaty and he seems not to have given suffi- 
cient credit to their argument. One of these Senators 
was Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts, a mem- 
ber of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. 
On March 28, 1901, Senator Lodge wrote privately 
to the Secretary : — 

^ The Davis Amendment, passed by the Senate December 13, 
1900, provided that the clause in the first treaty establishing the 
complete neutralization of the Canal, in time of war as in peace, 
should not "apply to measures which the United States may find 
it necessary to take for securing by its own forces the defense of 
the United States and the maintenance of public order," 



260 JOHN HAY 

"... The American people can never be made to 
understand that if they build a canal at their own 
expense and at vast cost, which they are afterwards 
to guard and maintain at their own cost, and keep 
open and secure for the commerce of the world at 
equal rates, they can never be made to understand, 
I repeat, that the control of such a canal should not 
be absolutely within their own power. ... I think we 
could ratify a treaty which abrogated and super- 
seded the Treaty of 1 850, and which agreed that the 
United States could maintain and defend the canal, 
keep it open for the commerce of all nations, at the 
same rates of toll which were imposed on vessels of 
the United States, and which further agreed that the 
United States would maintain the neutrality of 
the canal as between belligerents when the United 
States itself was not engaged in war. A treaty of 
this kind, I am sure, could be ratified." 

Mr. Lodge also said, referring to the first treaty: — 
"There was great difficulty in getting the Senate 
to accede to the clause prohibiting fortifications. 
Whether we could again secure a two-thirds vote 
for a treaty containing that clause, I do not know. 
Personally I was willing to accept it, on account of 
Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and because I thought, 
with the Davis Amendment in, it would be better if 
it could be omitted." 



LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 261 

In August, Secretary Hay wrote Senator Morgan, 
of Alabama, the member of the Committee on For- 
eign Relations who had made the Canal Question his 
special province, that the new treaty would probably 
come up at the next session; that, as it contained 
virtually the amendments suggested by the Senate, 
and especially those which Morgan himself had 
kindly suggested, he hoped it would go through. 
"The British Government," he remarked, "have 
shown a very fair and reasonable spirit.' 

Secretary Hay himself was converted to the need 
of fortifying the Canal ; and no doubt the advent of 
Mr. Roosevelt to the Presidency hastened his con- 
version. 

On November 18, 1901, Secretary Hay and Lord 
Pauncefote signed the treaty, which the Senate rati- 
fied on December 16, by a vote of 72 ayes to 6 noes. 
The British Government concurred without any 
delay. 

Hay was naturally elated, because, although this 
treaty differed widely from that which he first drew, 
it contained two provisions which he deemed essen- 
tial — the abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer con- 
vention, and the acknowledgment that the United 
States should control undisturbed the building and 
operation of the Isthmian Canal. 

"You will have seen by the newspapers of the 



262 JOHN HAY 

rapid and prosperous journey of our treaty through 
the Senate," he wrote to his loyal assistant, Mr. 
White. "Cabot [Senator Lodge], who felt himself 
particularly responsible for the wreck of the last one, 
put his whole back into promoting this one. The 
President likewise was extremely zealous in round- 
ing up the bunch of doubtful Senators, and the 
treaty at last went through with no opposition, 
except from the irreclaimable cranks. Seventy-two 
to six was near enough unanimity." (December 26, 
1901.) 

To turn from political to personal matters, death 
brought to Mr. Hay in 1901 losses which almost 
crushed him. In June, his elder son Adelbert, whom 
President McKinley had just appointed his Private 
Secretary, died instantly by a fall from a window. 
He had gone to New Haven to attend the Yale 
Commencement. 

"If sympathy could help," Mr. Hay writes Mr. 
White, "our sorrow would be brief. But every word 
of praise and affection which we hear of our dead 
boy but gives a keener edge to our grief. Why should 
he go, I stupidly ask, with his splendid health and 
strength, his courage, his hopes, his cheery smile 
which made everybody like him at sight; and I be 
left, with my short remnant of life, of little use to my 



LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 263 

friends, and none to myself? Yet I know this is a 
wild and stupid way to wail at fate. I must face the 
facts. My boy is gone, and the whole face of the 
world is changed in a moment. 

" Have you heard how it happened? The night was 
frightfully hot and close. He sat on the window-sill 
to get cool before turning in, and fell asleep. He was 
the soundest sleeper I ever knew. He probably did 
not wake." (June 30, 1901.) 

To i\Ir. Adams, Mr. Hay wrote: "... I do not 
know yet whether I shall get through or not. I am 
not making any progress. I am waiting to see if the 
nerves will stand the strain. 

"I have hideous forebodings. I have been extra- 
ordinarily happy all my life. Good luck has pursued 
me like my shadow. Now it is gone — it seems for- 
ever. I expect to-morrow to hear bad news, some- 
thing insufferable. ... I am too old to stand this, 
I suppose. The commonplaces of consolation look 
entirely different to me now. I see what a dunce I 
was, ever to use them with my friends. ..." (July 
II, 1901.) 

To Whitelaw Reid, a little later, he wrote: "Our 
loss grows greater as we move away from it, and are 
able to see it more distinctly. He was a part of all 
our lives; our hopes, our plans, our pride, our affec- 
tions, were all so bound up in him that we find, 



264 JOHN HAY 

wherever we turn, something broken, crippled, shat- 
tered, torn. . . . 

"My one source of comfort is the courage and 
sanity with which my wife bears her trouble. 
Through all that first horrible Sunday, my keenest 
anguish was for her. I wondered what was to be- 
come of her. I dreaded to meet her — but when she 
arrived and stood with me beside him, looking into 
his serene and smiling face, — he never looked so 
handsome and so happy, — I felt and have felt ever 
since that she had character enough for both of us." 
(July 22, 1901.) 

This is again to Mr. White : — 

" ... I hardly know what to say about myself. 
I am dull and inert. I am inclined to hold on if 
possible a little while longer. The President is most 
kind and insistent. If I keep afloat till next winter, 
we shall then see. . . . Mrs. Hay bears up wonder- 
fully, and keeps us all alive and sane. She said at 
the very beginning, — 'We must act as if he were 
away on one of his long journeys, and as if we were 
to see him again in due time. We must make no 
change whatever in our way of life.' So the children 
go on, asking his and their friends up here, trying to 
make no difference. I am sure she is wise — and I 
hope for the best. . . ." (July 26, 1901.) 

There brooded over him anxiety for Clarence 



LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 265 

King who was dying of consumption, alone, but in- 
vincibly cheerful. 
A letter from King prompted this outcry of Hay: 

To Henry Adams 

August 9, 1901. 

"What would I give to be with you" (King asks, 
on hearing of Adelbert's death) "to take my share of 
the passing shadow and the coming light. But I am 
a poor, sick, old fellow, uncertain yet of life or of 
death, suffering more than my lot, and simply wait- 
ing till nature and the foe have done their struggle." 

Here you have it in the face ! The best and bright- 
est man of his generation, who with talents im- 
measurably beyond any of his contemporaries, with 
industry that has often sickened me to witness it, 
with everything in his favor but blind luck, hounded 
by disaster from his cradle, with none of the joy of 
life to which he was entitled, dying at last, with 
nameless suffering, alone and uncared for in a Cali- 
fornia tavern. Ca vous amuse, la vie ? 

Mr. Hay's "hideous forebodings" were soon veri- 
fied in a definite and hardly expected form. Early 
in September President McKinley was shot by the 
demented assassin Czolgosz, and hung for a week 
between life and death. On September 14 he died. 



266 JOHN HAY 

While Vice-President Roosevelt and the other mem- 
bers of the Cabinet hastened to Buffalo, where the 
crime was committed, Secretary Hay remained in 
Washington. 

To Lady Jeune 

September 14, 1901. 

The President [McKinley] was one of the sweetest 
and quietest natures I have ever known among pub- 
lic men. I can hear his voice and see his face as he 
said all the kind and consoling things a good heart 
could suggest. And now he too is gone and left the 
world far poorer by his absence. 

I wonder how much of grief we can endure. It 
seems to me I am full to the brim. I see no chance 
of recovery — no return to the days when there 
seemed something worth while. Yet I feel no dis- 
gust of life itself, — only regret that so little is left, 
and so narrow a field of work remaining. 

. . . What a strange and tragic fate it has been of 
mine — to stand by the bier of three of my dearest 
friends, Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley, three of 
the gentlest of men, all risen to the head of the State, 
and all done to death by assassins. 

I think you know Mr. Roosevelt, our new Presi- 
dent. He is an old and intimate friend of mine: a 
young fellow of infinite dash and originality. He 



LIGHTS AND SHADOWS 267 

has gone to Canton to lay our dear McKinley to rest, 
and asked me to stay here on the avowed ground 
that, as I am the next heir to the Presidency, he did 
not want too many eggs in the same Pullman car. . . . 

To Henry Adams 

September 19, 1901. 

The President's death was all the more hideous 
that we were so sure of his recovery. Root and I left 
Buffalo on Wednesday [September 1 1] convinced that 
all was right. I had arranged with Cortelyou that he 
w^as to send a wire the next day telling me if the 
Doctors would answer for the President's life. He 
sent it, and I wrote a circular to all our Embassies 
saying that recovery was assured. I thought it might 
stop the rain of inquiries from all over the world. 
After I had written it, the black cloud of foreboding, 
Vv^hich is always just over my head, settled down and 
enveloped me, and I dared not send it. I spoke to 
Adee and he confirmed my fears. He distrusted the 
eighth day. So I waited — and the next day he was 
dying. 

I have just received your letter from Stockholm, 
and shuddered at the awful clairvoyance of your last 
phrase about Teddy's luck. 

Well, he is here in the saddle again. That is, he is 
in Canton [to attend President McKinley 's funeral], 



^68 JOHN HAY 

and will have his first Cabinet meeting in the White 
House to-morrow. He came down from Buffalo 
Monday night — and in the station, without waiting 
an instant, told me I must stay with him — that I 
could not decline nor even consider. I saw, of course, 
it was best for him to start off that way, and so I 
said I would stay, forever, of course, for it would 
be worse to say I would stay a while than it would 
be to go out at once. I can still go at any moment 
he gets tired of me, or when I collapse. 

Before the year ran out, death took John Nicolay 
and Clarence King, two of Hay's dearest friends. 
Well might he write, "I have acquired the funeral 
habit." The shocks of that summer left an indelible 
impression on Hay's health; but he had still nearly 
four years of service before him under the masterful 
young President. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

THE GERMAN MENACE LOOMS UP 

THIS is not the place in which to discuss the 
question of the unwisdom of the Fathers in 
giving the Senate a share in making treaties. That 
Hay did not accept the fact and make the best of it 
lays bare the chief defect in his equipment as a 
statesman. If he had only remembered Lincoln's 
remark to him, "We must use the tools we have," if 
he had only profited by this advice, he would have 
been spared constant personal irritation and would 
have easily carried through some of the treaties on 
which he had set his heart. His gradually failing 
health undoubtedly led him to resent adverse criti- 
cism. But the flaw went deeper than that. All his 
training, after he came back from Spain, tended to 
unfit him for the close, crude, rough, and sometimes 
fierce, man-to-man conflicts which are the com- 
monplaces of political strife. Even his service on 
the Tribune, while it brought him wide acquaintance 
with men, was not a preparation for what he had to 
do in Washington. As editor, like other editors, he 
laid down the law and need not reply to those who 
differed from him ; but as Secretary of State he could 



270 JOHN HAY 

not attain his ends without securing the concurrence 
of Senators and Congressmen, to whom he would not 
pay court. 

Among Mr. Hay's colleagues in the Cabinet he 
had the highest regard for the ability of Secretary 
Root, who succeeded him in the State Department. 
I am allowed to quote from a private letter from 
Mr. Francis B. Loomis, who served under both of 
them, this interesting statement of the contrast in 
their methods. 

Mr. Loomis writes: "He had very little acquaint- 
ance among politicians and many of the leaders of 
Congress were almost unknown to him. His failure 
to get on comfortably and successfully with the 
Senate and with many of the important members of 
the lower House of Congress, I think, was due 
primarily to the fact that he had come to have very 
little in common with the men who had the hard 
work in politics in hand and he did not always have 
a just appreciation of their usefulness and of their 
power. . . . Mr. Root, who is, broadly speaking, a 
man of affairs and who has had to deal with all sorts 
and conditions of men and with very practical prob- 
lems of life, learned while Secretary of War that it 
was highly important to be on pleasant terms with 
members of the Senate and House. He brought to 
the Department of State the knowledge and experi- 



THE GERMAN MENACE 271 

ence which he acquired during his previous term of 
service in the Cabinet and immediately set out to 
estabhsh good relations with the Senate. He suc- 
ceeded in his efforts and much of his success may be 
traced to his abihty to get on with men. He was less 
hampered by traditions and knowledge of diplo- 
matic usage than Mr, Hay. In estimating the two 
men justly, this must be taken into account. Mr. 
Hay had certain notions respecting the dignity and 
rights of his office, concerning which Mr. Root had 
little knowledge ; but he was eminently more practical 
than Mr. Hay when it came to treating with the 
average Congressman, Representative, Senator, or 
business man. The Secretary believed, if a certain 
appropriation for the Department or for carrying 
out the provisions of a treaty was needed, that he had 
fulfilled his duty in the matter when he had written 
a letter to the chairmen of the various committees 
who had to do with the matter in Congress, making a 
request for the needed appropriation. I did not agree 
with him at all as to the practical wisdom of this 
course and often asked him to let me go before the 
committees, discuss the proposed appropriation with 
the members, with the view of getting them per- 
sonally interested in the matter. He thought this 
course would be improper and undignified. Mr. 
Root, when he came in, adopted it immediately and 



272 JOHN HAY 

his appearances before the committees were very fre- 
quent and very successful." ^ 

My purpose in this book is not to analyze Mr. 
Hay's opinions and acts, but to state them so far as 
possible in his own words ; so that readers may know 
the basis and the aim of his work as a statesman. 
For this reason I have quoted freely his views of the 
public men whom he had to deal with, because men 
are the statesman's tools. We have seen that, almost 
from the first, he held the Senate as his antagonist. 
That a few men, not diplomats by training, should 
have the right to shatter a delicate piece of diplo- 
macy seemed to him as monstrous as if a clodhopper 
should be privileged to trample on a violin. The 
artist in him revolted; his reason revolted; his con- 
science revolted. 

And yet he did not hide from himself that his 
feeling toward the Senate had grown to be an ob- 
session. From his sick-bed at Newbury he wrote 
almost pathetically to Mr. Adams: — 

" I need you no end, but, alas, the inevitable has 
happened and I have become a bore. I cannot tell 
when the malady attained its present proportions — 
its progress is always insidious. ... I can think of 
nothing but the Senate and talk of little else. Even 
when I get out of office, which will be, D. V., next 

1 Hon. Francis B. Loomis to the author, August i, 191 5. 



THE GERMAN MENACE 273 

March, I have a grisly suspicion that it will be no 
better. The poison is immanent. I shall begin every 
phrase with : ' When I was ' " (September 25, 1900.) 

An exhaustive study of Hay's treaties will show that 
the most important of them were not so badly mis- 
handled by the Senate as he supposed under the 
smart of disappointment. The draft of the first 
Canal Treaty, which he virtually wrote and Paunce- 
fote merely adopted, contained such an anomaly as 
that of putting the Canal under the protection of 
many Powers, as was done in the case of the Suez 
Canal. If that had passed, where would it have 
left the Monroe Doctrine? Or how could the United 
States have protected the Canal which it constructed 
and owned? Here is one example of the benefit 
which came from the Senate's revision. Mr. Hay 
was too sore when he passed judgment on that revi- 
sion to give due credit to the senatorial improvement. 

"I long ago made up my mind," he wrote to a 
correspondent, "that no treaty on which discussion 
was possible, no treaty that gave room for a difference 
of opinion, could ever pass the Senate. When I sent 
in the Canal Convention, I felt sure no one out of 
a madhouse could fail to see that the advantages 
were all on our side. But I underrated the power of 
ignorance and spite, acting upon cowardice." (April 
22, 1900.) 



274 JOHN HAY 

In all his other relations, as Secretary of State, 
Hay outshone most of his predecessors. He knew 
how to treat with equal dignity and courtesy the 
variegated personnel of the Diplomatic Corps, and 
on state occasions he made an impressive appear- 
ance, and he was always an effective speaker. By 
taste, not less than by training, he was fitted to deal 
with ambassadors and cabinet ministers rather than 
with some of the leaders who emerged into eminence 
from the rough-and-tumble of politics. 

And as usually happens with a man of poetic cast, 
— and Hay's nature was primarily that of a poet, — 
the mood of the day colored his expressions. Thus, 
on April 24, 1900, he writes to Richard Watson 
Gilder: — 

"Many thanks for your kind letter from Berlin. 
I need all the help and comfort I can get from the 
apostles of sweetness and light, for verily I am in 
deep waters these days. Matters have come to such 
a pass with the Senate that it seems absolutely im- 
possible to do business. . . . The fact that a treaty 
gives to this country a great, lasting advantage, 
seems to weigh nothing whatever in the minds of 
about half the Senators. Personal interests, personal 
spites, and a contingent chance of a petty political 
advantage are the only motives that cut any ice at 
present." 



THE GERMAN MENACE 275 

And yet, only two months later, he wrote again to 
Gilder: — 

" I am afraid you read too many newspapers while 
you are away. I am an old man, and have had op- 
portunities of observation most of my days, and I 
give it to you straight that there never has been less 
corruption in American affairs than there is to-day, 
nor, as I devoutly believe, in the affairs of any other 
people." 

As we have already had several references to Ger- 
many and as others will follow, it is necessary now 
to speak of the German Conspiracy against the 
United States. When the history of that plot comes 
to be written in detail. Hay's contacts with it will 
be seen in their true significance. He could not fore- 
see, of course, the full extent of the Pan-Germanist 
purposes nor the time and manner in which they 
would burst into open activity. But he was one of 
the first to perceive that the intrigue was hatching, 
and it fell to him, both as Ambassador and as Secre- 
tary of State, to guard the United States against the 
earliest masked assaults of Germany. 

Soon after William H succeeded his father as 
German Emperor, he uttered several declarations to 
the effect that his will was absolute law, and that 
he held the life and death of every German in the 



276 JOHN HAY 

hollow of his hand, and other boasts of similar pur- 
port. The Germans at first were startled and used 
to tell you privately that the young monarch did not 
really mean that; or that he was simply having his 
fling; or that he was neurotic by temperament; and 
they would remind you of the taints of scrofula, 
cancer, and insanity in the Hohenzollerns and of his 
own diseased ear and crippled arm. German- 
Americans looked a little ashamed when they were 
questioned about these declarations and protested 
that they themselves, of course, "took no stock in 
medievalism." The Kaiser went on, however, in- 
forming his subjects and the world of the omnipo- 
tence of himself and God, and his declaration stead- 
ily worked a change in the hearts of the submissive 
German people; so that, even when he left God out 
of the partnership, the Germans, having the Kaiser, 
were not aware of the void. 

Thanks to her vigor, efficiency, and enterprise in 
material things, Germany prospered. She needed 
more territory for her growing population. She lis- 
tened to the seductive incitations to world-domin- 
ion. Looking at existing conditions, the Germans 
concluded that the British Navy alone stood between 
them and their ambition. The existence of England 
depended upon that navy, therefore if the navy were 
destroyed, England would sink. About 1895, the 




2 1 



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H § 

►J s 

8 1 

Pi K 

H c 

9 ^ 

a, * 



THE GERMAN MENACE 277 

German Navy League was organized and the build- 
ing of a great German fleet was begun. But the 
Germans hoped, even before they had finally des- 
patched England, to be able to expand by coloniza- 
tion, and they coveted especially, as I have before 
remarked, Brazil. The reaffirmation of the Monroe 
Doctrine by President Cleveland warned them that 
they must keep hands off in America. Thence- 
forward, for twenty years, they have been watching 
an opportunity to humble the United States. 

It soon occurred to them that there is more than 
one way of colonizing a country. Hundreds of thou- 
sands, and even millions, of Germans were scattered 
through the world under alien flags. Why should 
these Germans be "lost" to the Fatherland? Why 
should they not rather in each country form a 
veritable German colony, bound by stronger ties to 
the Fatherland, using their foreign citizenship for 
the benefit of the Fatherland, and preparing for the 
happy day, when, through some turn in Fortune's 
wheel, they might dominate their adopted countries 
in the name of the Kaiser. 

The United States held the largest number of 
emigrants from Germany. They had come here to 
escape military system at home, or to break through 
the rigid lines of caste, or simply to better their 
fortunes; and they had thriven here. Under the 



278 JOHN HAY 

pretense of promoting political and commercial 
friendship, the German Government began secretly 
to organize the German-Americans. Agents of all 
kinds were sent out from Germany and the German- 
Americans, who had been looked at rather as ab- 
sconders by the Imperial Government, were now 
flattered, courted, and encouraged in all ways to re- 
new their intimacy with the Fatherland and to regard 
it as their real home. The time came when those 
among them who had achieved wealth or eminence 
visited Germany. They were effusively welcomed. 
The Emperor condescended to receive them and 
permitted even German Jews to penetrate to the 
antechambers of the Court. He distributed decora- 
tions lavishly. Toward native Americans, also, he 
showed great affability. His paid pamphleteers dis- 
covered that, in essence, the Prussians and the Yankees 
were singularly alike. No form of seduction which 
occurred to the Prussic imagination was left untried. 

Gradually, the United States were permeated by 
the spies, advocates, and surreptitious promoters of 
the glory of the Hohenzollern dynasty. Bismarck 
had long before taught how to direct a reptile press, 
and journalists trained in his teachings came to the 
United States. 

German teachers in American colleges and uni- 
versities did not let slip the advantage which their 



THE GERMAN MENACE 279 

position gave them for presenting German ideals to 
the American pubHc in most alluring forms. In 
many institutions they found Germanized faculties 
who welcomed them. As the German Government 
saw the efficacy of this form of propaganda, it gladly 
arranged for an exchange of professors, sending out 
some men of distinction who, incidentally, served 
the Germanist cause here ; while American professors 
went over to tell the Fatherland about this great 
country in which the Kaiser was so ostentatiously 
interested. The American people, good-natured as 
is its wont, suspected nothing. 

Now it happened, as I have stated in an earlier 
chapter, that when John Hay was in Europe in 1896, 
he got wind of the changed purposes of German 
Imperialism. Two years later, being Ambassador in 
London, he knew of the desperate and undisguised 
attempt of both the Germans and the French to 
protect Spain from a war with the United States. 
He knew of the effort of the German Emperor to 
persuade England to join the coalition against us. 
He probably heard from Mr. Chamberlain himself 
the remark which the Kaiser made to an Englishman, 
who reported it to Mr. Chamberlain: "If I had had 
a larger fleet I would have taken Uncle Sam by the 
scruff of the neck."^ Ambassador Hay knew also 
^ Boston Herald, editorial, August 16, 1915. 



28o JOHN HAY 

that, after the American victory at Manila, an 
American official at Berlin, talking quite informally 
and without instructions, said in substance, with 
regrettable indiscretion, to certain German person- 
ages: "We don't want the Philippines; why don't 
you take them?" Whether this unguarded remark 
led to the appearance, a few weeks later, of a German 
squadron in Manila Bay, cannot yet be authenticated 
by documents: the fact is undenied that Diederichs 
acted as if he intended to seize the islands. Mr. Hay 
knew not only of Admiral Dewey's refusal to be 
browbeaten, but of the aid rendered by the British 
commander Chichester, and of other things which 
have not yet been made public. He knew also, as he 
wrote in a letter printed above, that England, if 
requested, would put her fleet at our service. In 
brief, his experience in London revealed to him the 
aims of Pan-Germanism. 

On his return to Washington, one of Mr. Hay's first 
duties as Secretary of State brought him into imme- 
diate relation with German diplomacy. For some 
time past the United States had exercised a con- 
dominium with Great Britain and Germany over 
the Samoan Islands. Disputes arose; the friction 
between the Germans and the British threatened 
to become acute. By common consent, however, 
the three Powers agreed, after negotiations in which 



THE GERMAN MENACE 281 

Hay took a leading part, to give up the condominium. 
Germany kept all the islands except Tutuila, and the 
English had compensation elsewhere. 

The following extracts refer to these negotiations. 
The Secretary writes to Mr. Henry White on 
September 9, 1899: — 

"Our relations with Germany are perfectly civil 
and courteous. They are acting badly about our 
meats and cannot help bullying and swaggering. 
It is their nature. But we get on with them. We 
are on the best of terms about Samoa; Sternburg 
backed up Tripp in everything, so that, to our amaze- 
ment, Germany and we arranged everything har- 
moniously. It was rather the English commissioner 
who was offish. The Emperor is nervously anxious 
to be on good terms with us — on his own terms. Men 
entendu." 

When England and Germany came to an agree- 
ment, Mr. Hay wrote privately to Mr. Choate: — 

To Joseph H. Choate 

November 13, 1899. 

I was kept quite in the dark up to the last moment 
as to the arrangement made between Germany and 
England. The newspapers have announced, with- 
out the least reserve, that England was to keep 
Samoa and Germany get the Gilbert and Solomon 



282 JOHN HAY 

Islands, or, as the boys with a natural reminiscence 
of the opera hoiiffe called them, "The Gilbert and 
Sullivan." I should have been glad if you had 
squandered a little of the public money, letting me 
know by telegraph the true state of the case. It is 
a satisfaction to me to know that Lord Salisbury 
assured you that equal rights as to trade and com- 
merce would be reserved for the other Powers in 
Samoa, and of this he was informed by your letter 
before the German Embassy received the authentic 
news that the arrangement had been made. Ger- 
many, it is true, has been excessively anxious to 
have the matter concluded before the Emperor's visit 
to England, and, in the intense anxiety, I am in- 
clined to think they have somewhat lost sight of their 
material interests in the case. . . . 

Our interests in the archipelago were very meager 
always excepting our interest in Pago Pago, which 
was of the most vital importance. It is the finest 
harbor in the Pacific and absolutely indispensable 
to us. The general impression in the country was 
that we already owned the harbor, but this, as you 
know, was not true. . . . Seeing the intense anxiety 
of the Emperor that the negotiations should be has- 
tened, I sent at his personal request the dispatches 
which you have received ; assured that all our inter- 
ests would be safeguarded and knowing also that in 



THE GERMAN MENACE 283 

case the arrangement proposed was not satisfactory 
we always had the power of a peremptory veto. . . . 
The arrangement seems to have been received 
with general satisfaction in the country, though the 
New York Sim which is usually very friendly to us, 
is greatly displeased by it; while the Tribune, which 
has of late been playing the role of "the candid 
friend," highly approves. Our Navy Department 
has for a long time been very anxious for this con- 
summation, and of course, they are delighted with 
it. Tutuila, though the smallest of the islands, is 
infinitely the most important and the most useful 
to us. The argument from size, which the Sun makes 
so much of, is hardly worth a moment's considera- 
tion. An acre of land at the comer of Broad and 
Wall Streets is worth something like a million acres 
in Nevada. The proof that size has nothing to do 
with the case is that Savii, by far the largest of the 
islands, was considered by Germany and by Eng- 
land as entirely worthless. My own opinion is that 
Germany has the least valuable bargain of the three 
and that she was led by her sentimental eagerness 
into a bad trade. . . . 

The next year, in his labor to save China, Hay had 
a still closer view of German methods. What he 
thought of them may be summed up in his sentence 



284 JOHN HAY 

already quoted: "I had almost rather be the dupe 
of China than the chum of the Kaiser." After Hay's 
discovery that the foreigners at the Legations were 
still alive, it was Secretary Root's quick decision to 
send General Chaffee with a relief force to Peking, 
that saved the day. Incidentally the swiftness of 
that movement prevented Count Waldersee from 
taking command of the joint expedition as the Kaiser 
had planned ; for Chaffee and his associates had put 
down the Boxers before Waldersee arrived. 

From this time on, as the Isthmian Canal project 
came to be a certainty, the Germans redoubled their 
efforts to get a foothold in the Western Hemisphere 
and if possible within striking distance of the Canal. 
In May, 1901, Hay received information that Ger- 
man warships had been inspecting the Santa Marga- 
rita Islands, off the coast of Venezuela, with a view 
to occupying them as a naval base. Later he learned 
that the Kaiser was secretly negotiating for the pur- 
chase of two harbors "for his own personal use" — 
whatever that meant — on the desolate coast of Low- 
er California. Both these essays came to nought. 

In that same year, 1902, one of the periodic out- 
breaks to which Venezuela was addicted gave him 
an excuse for putting to the test whether or not the 
United States would defend the Monroe Doctrine by 
force of arms. The Venezuelans owed the Germans, 



THE GERMAN MENACE 285 

the English, and the ItaHans large amounts which 
they had put off paying until their creditors began 
to suspect that they never intended to pay at all. 
The Kaiser apparently counted on the resistance of 
the Venezuelans to furnish him a pretext for occupy- 
ing one or more of their seaboard towns. In order to 
disguise the fact that this was a German undertak- 
ing he looked about for accomplices who would give 
to it an international semblance. It happened just 
at that time, that Germany found herself isolated, 
as France and Russia had renewed their bond of 
friendship. England, too, always suspicious of 
Russia, and recently irritated by France, seemed to 
be looking for a friend. By offers which cannot yet 
be made public, Germany persuaded the Tory 
Governm.ent to draw closer to her. The immediate 
result of this adventure in international coquetry 
was the joint demand of Germany and England 
on Venezuela to pay them their dues. Venezuela 
procrastinated. 

The allies then sent warships and established what 
they called a "pacific blockade" on the Venezuelan 
ports (December 8, 1901). During the following 
year Secretary Hay tried to persuade the blockaders 
of the unwisdom of their action. He persistently 
called their attention to the fact that a "pacific 
blockade" was a contradiction in terms and that its 



286 JOHN HAY 

enforcement against the rights of neutral nations 
could not be tolerated. He also urged arbitration. 
Germany deemed that her opportunity had now 
come, and on December 8, 1902, she and Great 
Britain severed diplomatic relations with Venezuela, 
making it plain that the next steps would be the 
bombardment of Venezuelan towns and the occupa- 
tion of Venezuelan territory. 

Here came the test of the Monroe Doctrine, If 
the United States permitted foreign nations, under 
the pretense of supporting their creditors' claims, to 
invade a weak debtor state by naval or military 
expedition, and to take possession of its territory, 
what would become of the Doctrine? At this point 
the direction of the American policy passed from 
Secretary Hay to President Roosevelt. 

England and Italy were willing to come to an 
understanding. Germany refused. She stated that 
if she took possession of territory, such possession 
would only be "temporary"; but such possessions 
easily become permanent; and besides, it is difficult 
to trust to guarantees which may be treated as 
"scraps of paper." 

President Roosevelt did not shirk the test. Al- 
though his action has never been officially described, 
there is no reason now for not describing it. 

One day, when the crisis was at its height, he 



THE GERMAN MENACE 287 

summoned to the White House Dr. Holleben, the 
German Ambassador, and told him that unless Ger- 
many consented to arbitrate, the American squad- 
ron under Admiral Dewey would be given orders, 
by noon ten days later, to proceed to the Venezue- 
lan coast and prevent any taking possession of Ven- 
ezuelan territory. Dr. Holleben began to protest 
that his Imperial master, having once refused to ar- 
bitrate, could not change his mind. The President 
said that he was not arguing the question, because 
arguments had already been gone over until no 
useful purpose would be served by repeating them; 
he was simply giving information which the Am- 
bassador might think it important to transmit to 
Berlin. A week passed in silence. Then Dr. Holleben 
again called on the President, but said nothing of 
the Venezuelan matter. When he rose to go, the 
President asked him about it, and when he stated 
that he had received nothing from his Government, 
the President informed him in substance that, in 
view of this fact. Admiral Dewey would be instructed 
to sail a day earlier than the day he, the President, 
had originally mentioned. Much perturbed, the 
Ambassador protested; the President informed him 
that not a stroke of a pen had been put on paper; 
that if the Emperor would agree to arbitrate, he, the 
President, would heartily praise him for such action, 



288 JOHN HAY 

and would treat it as taken on German initiative; 
but that within forty-eight hours there must be an 
offer to arbitrate or Dewey would sail with the orders 
indicated. Within thirty-six hours Dr. Holleben 
returned to the White House and announced to 
President Roosevelt that a despatch had just come 
from Berlin, saying that the Kaiser would arbitrate. 
Neither Admiral Dewey (who with an American 
fleet was then manoeuvring in the West Indies) nor 
any one else knew of the step that was to be taken ; 
the naval authorities were merely required to be in 
readiness, but were not told what for. 

On the announcement that Germany had con- 
sented to arbitrate, the President publicly compli- 
mented the Kaiser on being so stanch an advocate 
of arbitration. 

The humor of this was probably relished more in 
the White House than in the Palace at Berlin. The 
Kaiser suggested that the President should act as 
arbiter, and Mr. Roosevelt was ready to serve; but 
Mr. Hay dissuaded him. Mr. Hay had permitted 
Mr. Herbert W. Bowen, American Minister to Ven- 
ezuela, to act as arbitrator for that country, and 
Mr. Bowen regarded it as improper that the United 
States, which also had claims against Venezuela, 
should sit in judgment on the case. Mr. Hay, desir- 
ous of validating the Hague Tribunal, saw a further 



THE GERMAN MENACE 289 

advantage in referring to it this very important con- 
tention. The President acquiesced, therefore, and 
Venezuela's claims went to The Hague for arbitra- 
ment. 

England and Italy, Germany's partners in the 
naval expedition, gladly complied. England, we pre- 
sume, had never intended that her half -alliance with 
Germany should bring her into open rupture with 
the United States. Although her pact was kept as 
secretly as possible at home, inklings of it leaked out, 
and it has since been esteemed, by those who know 
the details, one of the least creditable items in Lord 
Salisbury's foreign policy. Whether he or Mr. Bal- 
four originated it, the friends of neither have cared 
to extol it, or indeed to let its details be generally 
known. 

In a letter to a private correspondent, Secretary 
Hay takes a parting shot at the Venezuelan settle- 
ment : — 

''They [the German Government] are very much 
preoccupied in regard to our attitude, and a com- 
munique recently appeared in the Berlin papers 
indicating that the negotiations would have gone on 
better but for our interference. We have not inter- 
fered, except in using what good offices we could 
dispose of to induce all parties to come to a speedy 
and honorable settlement, and in this we have been, 



290 JOHN HAY 

I think, eminently successful. I think the thing that 
rankles most in the German ojfhcial mind is what 
Bowen said to Sternburg: ^ "Very well, I will pay 
this money "which you demand, because I am not 
in position to refuse, but I give you warning that 
for every thousand dollars you exact in this way, 
you will lose a million in South American trade." 
(February i6, 1903.) 

In this wise the German Kaiser learned that the 
Monroe Doctrine was a fact. But while he was 
secretly working for a foothold in America, his 
blandishments and protestations of friendliness to 
the people of the United States became more and 
more marked. As a sign of his hearty favor he sent 
over his brother. Prince Henry of Prussia, to bear 
his Imperial greetings to the President and to vari- 
ous distinguished institutions and representative 
bodies. Prince Henry's visit, however, was really 
intended to solidify the German-American move- 
ment in behalf of the Fatherland. Through his some- 
what inept informers. Dr. HoUeben and his satellites, 
the Kaiser had been led to believe that a million Ger- 
mans were already organized and most eager to bow 
down and do homage to a Hohenzollern as their 
accepted lord. But it turned out that the German- 
Americans were not yet entirely Prussianized. Many 

' Freiherr Speck von Sternburg, soon after this appointed Ger- 
man Ambassador to succeed Holleben. 



THE GERMAN MENACE 291 

of them had joined the German societies without 
suspecting that these were intended ultimately to sub- 
stitute imperial German for democratic American 
ideals. Prince Henry's whirlwind passage from city 
to city evoked everywhere curiosity, — for Ameri- 
cans are always eager to be amused, — but it failed 
in some quarters to stimulate the pro-Prussian and 
pro-HohenzoUern enthusiasm which had been ex- 
pected. From that time forward, however, the paid 
agents and organizers pushed on their work secretly, 
and they were aided by many enthusiasts, not all of 
whom suspected the object for which they were 
being used. It is enough to cite the close league be- 
tween the Irish and German elements of Tammany 
Hall — a league to which Hay has several times re- 
ferred — in order to show how "practical" and how 
"ideal" was one element of the pro-Hohenzollern 
propagandists in this country. 

"It is a singular ethnological and political para- 
dox," Hay wrote the President, "that the prime 
motive of every British subject in America is hos- 
tility to England, and the prime motive of every 
German-American is hostility to every country in 
the world, including America, which is not friendly 
to Germany. . . . The Irish of New York are thirst- 
ing for my gore. Give it to them, if you think they 
need it." (April 23, 1903.) 



292 JOHN HAY 

Count von Biilow was the Kaiser's chief adviser 
during the years of Hay's secretaryship. The Count 
promoted, if he did not invent, the policy of recov- 
ering the "lost" Germans for the Fatherland. He 
encouraged the Kaiser's growing ambition, serving as 
the medium between the great industrialists and the 
militarists and the Emperor. Outwardly a sleek 
man, he made German diplomacy, as Hay remarked, 
as brutal as possible. During his ten years' service 
the Pan-Germanist propaganda passed from the 
stage of dreams to that of an umrestrained im- 
pulse. When he was dismissed by a sudden caprice 
of the Emperor, he had the satisfaction of knowing 
that he had succeeded in leaving Germany without 
a friend in the world, — except Austria, which was 
really her servant, and Turkey, which was subsi- 
dized by her gold. In so short a time to succeed in 
alienating the world's sympathy from his country 
was a feat of which no other contemporary states- 
man could boast. 

Von Billow's mouthpiece at Washington, Dr. 
Holleben, attempted rather crudely to imitate the 
alternating brusqueness and blandishment which the 
Kaiser adopted toward this Government according 
as its acts pleased or displeased him. When William 
was checkmated in Venezuela and England cooled 
in her alliance with him, Holleben, working on in- 



THE GERMAN MENACE 293 

structlons which he must have had from Berhn, — 
for no German official acts without instructions, — 
strove to irritate our people against England. He 
declared that before the outbreak of the Spanish 
War, England surpassed the other Powers in hostil- 
ity to us, and as a proof of this he recalled the fact 
that Pauncefote headed the members of the Diplo- 
matic Corps who interviewed President McKinley 
to protest against American menace to Spain. Now 
every one in Washington knew that Pauncefote went 
simply as the dean of the Diplomatic Corps and that 
he had consistently worked to strengthen friendship 
between England and the United States. That 
Holleben had waited until Pauncefote was dead 
before uttering this low insinuation against him 
caused such general contempt that the Kaiser, per- 
ceiving that the little plot had failed, recalled him at 
a day's notice. Hay found German diplomacy the 
most difficult to deal with. Even trifles assumed a 
pompous gravity which might have been excessive 
if great matters were at stake. The Germans seemed 
to be afraid that they would not be taken at their 
own valuation, and so they constantly kept remind- 
ing those with whom they had to deal, of their im- 
portance. Two or three American warships happened 
to be at Villefranche when the French President paid 
a casual visit to Marseilles. The Marseilles munici- 



294 JOHN HAY 

pality, out of common politeness, invited the ships 
to visit the port on the day when the President was 
there. This they did and the incident, which had no 
significance, would have been promptly forgotten had 
not the German Foreign Office intimated to our State 
Department that the Emperor would feel slighted if 
our ships did not pay their respects to him. To such 
trifles do the controllers of empires sometimes de- 
scend. Another small embarrassment was caused by 
William's presentation to the American people of a 
statue of Frederick the Great; but here also Hay, 
by his urbanity, prevented friction. 

I have given in some detail this aspect of Secretary 
Hay's work, because in justice to him it should be 
known. For during his lifetime some of his critics 
attributed to mere prejudice his attitude towards 
Germany, and to downright Anglomania his friend- 
liness towards England. To those who believe that 
the English-speaking peoples all over the world 
should not be supplanted by Prussianized Teutons, 
Hay's foresight and his choice appear now in their 
proper light. 

His conduct toward Germany was in fact always 
correct; and although he had reason to believe that 
the treaty he negotiated with Denmark for the pur- 
chase of the Danish West Indies was defeated in the 
Danish Parliament by German influence, he never 



THE GERMAN MENACE 295 

let his suspicion be known. Later, as we shall see, 
he worked in harmony with the Kaiser in regard to 
the Chinese situation because the Kaiser in this case 
was simply bent on enforcing Hay's own policy of 
protecting China. In his private letters Hay's refer- 
ences to William H are usually amusing. He was 
not deceived into mistaking the Emperor's bustle 
in politics, art, literature, and religion for greatness. 
But although he smiled, he recognized that such a 
monarch, working upon such a people as the German, 
might become a danger to civilization, and when, 
before Hay died, the Kaiser took to "rattling his 
scabbard" too frequently, the Statesman of Peace 
had no longer any delusions as to the purpose of the 
Emperor of War. Only after the German Kaiser had 
forced his Atrocious War upon the world in 191 4, did 
his agents in the United States proclaim that they 
had built up an organization so powerful that it 
would compel the American Government to do their 
bidding, which was his. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 

IN an address on "American Diplomacy" which 
Secretary Hay delivered at the New York 
Chamber of Commerce Dinner on November 19, 
1 901, he uttered a sentence which went over the 
country. 

" If we are not permitted to boast of what we have 
done," he said, "we can at least say a word about 
what we have tried to do and the principles which 
have guided our action. The briefest expression of 
our rule of conduct is, perhaps, the Monroe Doctrine 
and the Golden Rule. With this simple chart we can 
hardly go far wrong." 

Mr. Hay had already done much to deserve to be 
called "the Statesman of the Golden Rule," and he 
was still to do more before he died. The new genera- 
tion associates with his memory the qualities which 
justify that noble description. While he still lived 
men said, "If John Hay did that, it must be right"; 
and since his death they say, of a given policy, "If 
John Hay were alive he would never approve of 
this." 

I come now to the creation of the Republic of 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 297 

Panama — that transaction in his career as Secre- 
tary of State about which there has raged the most 
vehement debate. Opponents have called it "im- 
moral," " piratical," " treacherous" ; some supporters 
have defended it on the ground of international ex- 
pediency, or on technical legal points; others, while 
admitting the ugly appearances, have consoled them- 
selves with the thought that, inasmuch as John Hay 
gave it his sanction, the affair could not have been 
dishonorable. 

Mr. Hay used to tell his friends that often Presi- 
dent McKinley did not send for him once a month 
on business, but that he saw President Roosevelt 
every day. That statement illustrates the difference 
in initiative between the two Presidents; or, at least, 
the ratio of their interest in foreign relations. From 
the moment of Mr. Roosevelt's accession, the State 
Department felt a new impelling force behind it. The 
Secretary still conducted the negotiations, but the 
origination and decision of policy came to rest more 
and more with the President. 

- In no other case was this so true as in that of the 
Panama Canal. In the earlier stages Mr. Roosevelt 
gave directions which Mr. Hay carried out; before 
the end, however, the President took the business 
into his own hands ; and has always frankly assumed 
entire responsibility for the decisive stroke. 



298 JOHN HAY 

The abrogation of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, in 
December, 1901, left the field open for the United 
States Government to construct, maintain, and con- 
trol a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. Two 
parties urged their claims — one, advocating the 
route through Nicaragua, the other, the shorter way 
through Panama. Each set of promoters put for- 
ward the special advantages for its route and pointed 
out the drawbacks of its rival. Senator John T. 
Morgan, the most zealous champion of a canal, pre- 
ferred the Nicaragua plan, and wished to bind the 
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to it. The 
Government had appointed a commission of experts, 
under Admiral John G. Walker, to study all possible 
routes for a canal between the Atlantic and the 
Pacific, and this commission reported in favor of 
Nicaragua. 

Before Congress voted in favor of Nicaragua, how- 
ever, the advocates of Panama got a hearing. The 
old De Lesseps Company, after its collapse, had 
sold its plant, good- will, and excavations to the 
New Panama Canal Company. No sooner had the 
Walker Commission reported than the President of 
the new company, which had previously offered to 
sell all its interests for $109,000,000, cabled from 
Paris that he would accept $40,000,000 — the esti- 
mate of value made by the Walker Commission. 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 299 

On January 8, 1902, the House passed, by an over- 
whelming majority, the Hepburn Bill, authorizing 
the construction of the Nicaragua Canal; but this 
measure was fought in the Senate, and only after it 
had been amended beyond recognition by Senator 
Spooner was it accepted by the Senate, on June 19, 
and by the House a week later. President Roosevelt 
signed it on June 28, 1902. Briefly, the Spooner 
Bill provided for the purchase by the Government, 
at forty million dollars, of the New Panama Canal 
Company's rights ; for acquiring at a fair price from 
the Republic of Colombia a strip of territory six 
miles broad from Colon to Panama, together with 
as much additional land as the President should 
deem necessary; and then for proceeding with the 
work of construction. 

Such was the tangled skein of the Panama Canal 
affair when diplomacy took it up. 

The American Government concluded its bargain 
with the new company without difficulty, whereas, 
from the outset, its negotiations with Colombia 
awakened distrust. While Congress was discussing 
the Spooner Bill, Secretary Hay had been busy 
sounding the Central American republics and Co- 
lombia, and he kept Senator Morgan, the zealot of 
the Canal project, informed of each move. 



300 JOHN HAY 

To Senator John T. Morgan 

April 22, 1902. 

... It is true that the Panama people [New Pan- 
ama Canal Company] have at last made their prop- 
osition. I have been trying to induce them to make 
some changes in it which might render it more ac- 
ceptable to the Senate and to our people. When it 
is completed I shall give them a note announcing the 
readiness of the Government of the United States to 
enter into a convention respecting the canal, when 
Congress shall have authorized the President to do 
so and when the legal officers of the United States 
shall have been satisfied of the power of the Panama 
Canal Company to transfer all their rights in the 
case. 

I regret to say that I have not yet been able to 
get a firm offer from the Government of Nicaragua. 
. . . Let me assure you in strictest confidence that I 
was unwilling to send in the Panama proposition un- 
til I was able also to send in the Nicaragua proposals. 
. . . The principal difficulty in the case is this, that 
both in Colombia and in Nicaragua great ignorance 
exists as to the attitude of the United States. In 
both countries it is believed that their route is the 
only one possible or practicable and that the Govern- 
ment of the United States in the last resort will 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 301 

accept any terms they choose to demand. The min- 
isters here of both Powers know perfectly well that 
this is untrue, and they are doing all they can to 
convince their people at home that no unreasonable 
proposition will be considered by the Government 
of the United States; but it is slow work convincing 
them. 

April 23, 1902. 

... I conceive my duty to be to try to ascertain 
the exact purposes and intentions of both the Gov- 
ernments [Nicaragua and Costa Rica] and, when I 
have done so, to inform your committee of the result 
for your information. ... I do not consider myself 
justified in advocating either route, as this matter 
rests within the discretion of Congress. When Con- 
gress has spoken, it will then be the duty of the State 
Department to make the best arrangement possible 
for whichever route Congress may decide upon. 

I cannot but believe that you are approaching the 
realization of the great enterprise which has so long 
occupied your thoughts and your endeavors, and 
certainly when the hour comes no name in the world 
can compare with yours in the praise and honor" 
which would belong to it for the accomplishment of 
this beneficent work which will be for the benefit of 
many generations yet unborn. 



302 JOHN HAY 

But the capacity of the Latin-Americans to post- 
pone seemed limitless: witness this note to Senator 
Morgan, dated May 12: — 

"It is impossible for you, as it would be for any 
one, to appreciate the exasperating difhculties that 
have been placed in my way in trying to get a defi- 
nite proposition from our Central American friends. 
I have finally sent a note to Mr. Corea [Nicaraguan 
Minister at Washington], telling him I can wait no 
longer upon the convenience of his Government; 
that he must, before Tuesday of this week, let me 
know what they propose, and that, in case I get no 
definite proposition from them by that time, I shall 
submit to Congress the proposition made by the 
Colombian Government, and also a statement that 
it has been impossible to get anything definite from 
the Government of Nicaragua. 

"In regard to your other question, the President 
has no desire for any delay by Congress in the con- 
sideration of the Canal matter. He greatly prefers, 
as did President McKinley, that the question of the 
route should be decided by Congress, but, in case it 
should seem best to Congress to leave to him the 
decision of the route which the Canal shall take, he 
will not evade that labor and responsibility." 

The significance of the following extract from a 
letter of May 19 needs no comment: — 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 303 

"... In our final negotiations we shall insist upon 
a provision being inserted which will prevent this 
Government from being mulcted in enormous in- 
demnities for land which has been recently pur- 
chased by speculators with that intention." 

As soon as the President signed the Spooner Bill, 
Mr. Hay began conferring with General Concha, the 
Colombian Minister in Washington, and on July 15 
he writes Senator Spooner : — 

" I embodied in a draft of the treaty with Colombia 
all the ideas you set forth in our recent conversa- 
tions, and think we have got it in very satisfactory 
shape. General Concha did not think he had au- 
thority to accept these amendments to the draft 
which we had formerly agreed upon, and has trans- 
mitted them to his Government for their approval 
and acceptance. I do not imagine that we shall get 
an answer immediately. ..." 

Mr. Hay closes his letter with this noteworthy 
postscript, written in his own hand : — 

"Gen. Morgan says we ought to acquire Panama 
— the entire State — from Colombia. I told him I 
would consult, as occasion offered, some of the lead- 
ing members of the Senate on that subject." 

Senator Morgan seems to have already been asking 
himself, as were other American public men, whether 
the simplest way to assure the political safety of the 



304 JOHN HAY 

Isthmian Canal would not be to annex the Province 
of Panama. On September 27, 1902, in one of his 
many urgent notes to Mr. Hay, he sends a copy of a 
letter just received from a Virginian friend, who had 
spent several years on the Isthmus. "In regard to 
the temper of the Isthmus population," this gentle- 
man writes, "looking to annexation to the United 
States, I think it would be favorable, but Colombia, 
in every other section, would be likely to be opposed, 
as the Isthmus is looked upon as a financial cow to 
be milked for the benefit of the country at large. 
This difficulty might be overcome by diplomacy and 
money." 

This last sentence contains the kernel from which 
sprang the violent climax of the Canal negotiations. 
The Province of Panama, once independent, had, in 
the course of endemic revolutions, been annexed to 
the United States of Colombia. Its interests were 
quite distinct from Colombia's, and since the con- 
struction of the railway across the Isthmus, forty 
years before, its revenues had gone mostly into the 
pockets of statesmen at Bogota, the Colombian 
capitol, distant a fifteen days* journey from Panama. 
As soon as the construction of the Canal seemed 
probable, those statesmen quickly saw great profit 
in it for themselves. The Government, virtually 
despotic, was in the hands of President Marroquin, 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 305 

who had crushed a rebellion of so-called Liberals in 
1900. 

Making a treaty with such elements was much like 
putting a lid on an intermittent geyser. Neverthe- 
less, Secretary Hay took up the task with Dr. Tomas 
Herran, the Colombian Charge in Washington, and, 
after many months* deliberation they agreed that 
the United States should pay Colombia ten million 
dollars for her consent to the purchase of the New 
Panama Company's rights and plant, and for ceding 
the required territory, and that, after nine years, 
Colombia should receive an annual bonus of two 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. On January 
27, 1903, the Hay-Herran Treaty was signed, and 
on March 17 the Senate ratified it. Then the instru- 
ment went to Bogotd for ratification. 

The politicians there at once showed their hand. 
Ten million dollars, followed by the annual subsidy, 
looked a very small sum to them: why not double 
or treble it? 

Mr. Hay writes Senator Hanna how matters 
stand. 

To Senator M. A. Hanna 

May 14, 1903. 

Walker told me that there was at Colon no accu- 
rate source of information, but the air was full of 



306 JOHN HAY 

rumors, which it was impossible to verify on the 
spot. From Bogotd we get occasional very meager 
dispatches from Beaupre [American Minister to 
Colombia]. He tells us that there Is very great op- 
position based on two or three points — one, the In- 
adequacy of the terms; two, the pretended loss of 
sovereignty ; and three, the talk of demagogues who 
want to get office by denouncing the encroachments 
of the Yankees. You know that for some days past 
there has been a rumor of the resignation of Marro- 
quin and the succession of Reyes. This seems to be 
untrue. I never have believed it, and should have 
been greatly surprised if It had been confirmed. On 
the contrary, the retirement of Fernandes and the 
entrance into the Cabinet of Mendoza seems clearly 
to me to indicate that Marroquin has the situation 
pretty well in hand, and that he would not have 
called his Congress together In extra session on the 
20th of June unless he had pretty positive assurances 
that he will have his way. Still, you know enough 
about those countries to know that nothing is certain 
until it is done. 

The Colombian Congress met on June 20, but the 
treaty was not even presented to It for discussion. 
Marroquin and his friends thought that, having 
committed the United States to accept the Panama 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 307 

route, they could extort any price they chose, — an 
intelligible attitude for a seller to take. So they de- 
clared, unofficially, that the ten millions which Dr. 
Herran, their accredited envoy, had agreed to, was 
not enough. They planned, therefore, to hold up 
the treaty until they should get all they could; and 
instead of attacking the United States directly, they 
demanded of the New Panama Canal Company 
another ten millions for allowing it to sell its rights 
to the United States. 

That company, whose seat was in Paris, was rep- 
resented by its general counsel, Mr. William Nelson 
Cromwell, of New York. In 1900 he urged Senator 
Hanna to include in the Republican platform a 
plank advocating the construction by the United 
States of an inter-oceanic canal, preferably by way^ 
of Panama. Senator Hanna demurred, and only 
after Mr. Cromwell had contributed sixty thousand 
dollars to the Republican campaign fund was such 
a plank, very general in terms, adopted.^ 

Thenceforward Mr. Hanna took increasing inter- 
est in Mr. Cromwell, and supported the upholders of 
the Panama route. Mr. Cromwell refused Colombia's 
demands, and during the summer of 1903 it was 

^ The Story of Panama. Hearings on the Rainey Resolution before 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives. 
Washington, 1912. Statement of Hon. Henry T. Rainey, of Illinois, 
p.71. 



3o8 JOHN HAY 

hinted by the World and other New York papers 
that he was busy plotting dire things on the Isthmus. 
How far this was true we cannot know until he pub- 
lishes his memoirs; but if he had a sense of humor 
perhaps he enjoyed the mystery and notoriety and 
the suggestion of turpitude which his enemies in the 
press whispered about him. 

Colombia also intimated that it expected the 
United States to raise its payment from ten millions 
to fifteen. The Colombian dreams of avarice grew 
as rapidly as Jack's beanstalk. 

All this while at Washington, Secretary Hay kept 
impressing upon Dr. Herran that unless the treaty 
went through unmaimed, and within a "reasonable 
time," it would be void; and Dr. Herran kept assur- 
ing the Secretary that the statesmen at Bogota 
would surely ratify it. On July 17 Mr. Hay wrote 
President Roosevelt : — 

"I have wired Beaupre to let Colombia under- 
stand that their strike for more money would prob- 
ably be rejected by the Senate and that any amend- 
ment or delay would greatly imperil the treaty." 

In July a special committee of the Colombian 
Senate took up the treaty and, on August 4, reported 
it so amended as to denature it. Only a few days 
before Secretary Hay had cabled Mr. Beaupre, the 
American Minister at Bogota, to warn the Colom- 



/ 

THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 309 

bians that "No additional payment by the United 
States can hope for approval by the United States 
Senate, while any amendment whatever requiring 
consideration by that body would most certainly im- 
peril its consummation." 

Despite these warnings the Colombian Senate, on 
August 12, unanimously rejected the treaty; but in 
order to prevent the United States from losing its 
patience, General Reyes, in behalf of the Govern- 
ment, said that it had counted on a speedy reaction 
in which it would be possible to come to terms. He 
asked that a fortnight longer be granted to the 
Colombians. To this request Mr. Hay cabled the 
reply on August 24: "The President will make no 
engagement on the Canal matter, but I regard it as 
improbable that any definite action will be taken 
within two weeks." 

The Colombians, unable to coerce the New 
Panama Company into paying the ten million 
dollars, hit upon a plan for realizing their dream of 
avarice. According to an early agreement their con- 
cession to the builders of the Panama Canal would 
expire in 1904; but this limit they had subsequently 
extended to October 31, 1910. By asserting now that 
the first date was the true one, they reckoned that 
within a year the rights of the New Canal Company 
would revert to Colombia. This would bring her. 



310 JOHN HAY 

not a paltry ten or even twenty millions, but forty, 
besides whatever additional price she could wring 
from the next concessionnaire. On September 5 the 
Special Committee of the Colombian Senate advised 
that the treaty be rejected; on October 14 another 
committee reported in favor of regarding 1904 in- 
stead of 1 9 10 as the limit of the concession; and on 
October 31 the Congress adjourned, without voting 
on either of these bills. Why vote, when their acts 
spoke so plainly? 

To a correspondent in San Francisco who inquired 
of Mr. Hay as to the action of this Congress, he 
replied: — 

"The extravagant propositions you refer to were 
many times presented in various ways to the Bogota 
Congress. None of them were passed upon, and no 
firm proposition has ever been made by the Govern- 
ment of Colombia to the United States. Their aim 
was evidently to pursue a dilatory policy until next 
year, when they would probably have declared the 
French concession forfeited, and have demanded 
of us the whole sum agreed upon with the Panama 
Company. The only officially ascertained fact in the 
case is that they refused to ratify the treaty they had 
made with us and offered nothing in its place." 
(November 23, 1903.) 

News that the Colombian Senate had rejected the 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 311 

treaty reached Washington on August 16. Some 
persons concluded that the Colombian Congress 
intended to adjourn, after conferring on Marroquin 
full powers to ratify the treaty; others suspected that 
the act foreboded a break; others again, familiar 
with the state of feeling on the Isthmus, predicted 
that Panama would secede, declare its independence, 
and offer the Canal route to the United States. 

Secretary Hay, on his vacation at Newbury, New 
Hampshire, received frequent summaries of the state 
of departmental business from the tireless Mr. Adee 
in Washington. Some of his brief comments are en- 
lightening. The first refers to the proposal from 
Rico, Colombian Foreign Secretary, at the moment 
when Hay believed the President was not inclined 
to say anything more to Bogota. "I can imagine 
his reception of Rico's calm proposition to make 
some new proposal next August." (September 18, 

1903-) 

Mr. Adee's own witty summary of the situation 

was: " It seems to me that the Colombian cow, hav- 
ing kicked over the pail, says: 'See here; if I should 
kick over this pail, would. you give me "an extension 
of time" to see what I will do with another pailful 
to-morrow? ' " (Adee to Hay, September 21, 1903.) 
By this time the New Canal Company had become 
thoroughly alarmed. Its officers seem to have 



312 JOHN HAY 

counted on Marroquin's display of dictatorial power 
in their favor. Now it was clear that he either would 
not or dared not interfere. From the next extract 
we infer that Mr. Cromwell had carried their griev- 
ances to the State Department. Hay writes: — 

"X must not whimper over the ruin of the treaty 
through the greed of the Colombians and the dis- 
inclination of the Canal Company to satisfy it. If 
they were willing to be bled, why not say so at the 
time? It is a thing we could not share in, nor even 
decently know." (September 21, 1903.); 
■ On September 20 the Secretary remarks : — 

"As to Colombia the President has nothing to say 
at present. They have had their fun — let them 
wait the requisite number of days for the consequent 
symptoms." 

Meanwhile, what of the Panamanians? The terri- 
tory to be ceded was theirs ; the persons directly con- 
cerned were themselves. Neither love, loyalty, nor 
self-interest bound them to Colombia. As early as 
June they showed signs of restlessness, and at the 
delays of the Colombian Congress they talked more 
and more openly of independence, which would en- 
able them to make the Canal agreement with the 
United States, receive the ten million dollars to be 
paid for the concession, and enjoy ever after what- 
ever benefits the Canal might bring to the Isthmus. 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 313 

Otherwise, the political machine at Bogota would 
divide the spoils. 

The very critics who were so sensitive over the 
wrongs of the Filipinos fighting for their freedom, 
had been strangely stony toward the Panamanians, 
who also desired their liberty. Granted that the 
Panamanians may not have been on a higher moral 
plane than the Colombians, ought we to ignore the 
fact that their cause was worthy, and that of the 
Colombians was odious? Let us at least be consist- 
ent. If those who conspire for liberty in Manila are 
heroes and martyrs, we must not dismiss those who 
conspire for liberty at Colon as outlaws. 

The Panamanians were quite competent to initi- 
ate any conspiracy themselves. Within the space of 
two years — between October, 1899, and September, 
1 90 1 — they had indulged In four revolutions against 
the Colombians. As to a revolution of secession and 
offer of annexation to the United States, Mr. Adee, 
forwarding to Mr. Hay the daily news of the State 
Department, writes on August 18: "Such a scheme 
could, of course, have no countenance from us — 
our policy before the world should stand, like Mrs. 
Caesar, without suspicion. Neither could we under- 
take to recognize and protect Panama as an inde- 
pendent state, like a second Texas. Such a state 
would have a hard time of it between Colombia on 



314 JOHN HAY 

one side and Costa Rica on the other." To follow 
scrupulously the terms of the Spooner Law, which 
gave President Roosevelt no authority to accept 
amendments without the approval of the American 
Senate, was the feeling of the State Department. 
"We are very sorry, but really we can't help it if 
Colombia does n't want the Canal on our terms," 
summed up this feeling, even after Mr. Hay was 
assured that the Panamanians intended to secede in 
case Colombia threw over the treaty. 

The Colombians miscalculated in assuming that 
the United States had fixed irrevocably on the 
Panama route. Mr. Roosevelt was authorized, if they 
did not ratify within a reasonable time, to strike a 
bargain with Nicaragua. When they realized that 
he might do this they became panicky, like a spec- 
ulator who sees his margin-based fortune about to 
evaporate. It is rumored that they offered to ratify 
the treaty if the New Canal Company would pay 
them clandestinely eight, or even only five, of the 
extra millions they demanded. The company re- 
fused, although later there was a suspicion that it 
was ready to pay up if it could be guaranteed that 
a second demand and a third would not follow. 
What Colombian could insure against that? 

For the New Canal Company as well as for 
Colombia the need of a settlement pressed. The 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 315 

company stood to lose forty millions by Colombia's 
double-dealing — a loss which Mr. Cromwell did 
everything to avert. Through his agent, Senor 
Mancini, he kept in touch with the politicians at 
Bogota; through Mr. Farnham, or by telephone, 
he communicated with the State Department at 
Washington ; while various trusted emissaries worked 
for him on the Isthmus. Late in the summer Mr. 
Cromwell made a flying trip to Paris to confer with 
the officers of the company there. Still, through 
occasional rifts in the curtain we see the Panaman- 
ians being encouraged in their desire for freedom. 
That desire was so far from being secret that, in 
August, when the Colombian Government appointed 
Senator Obaldia Governor of Panama, he announced 
that "in case the department found it necessary to 
revolt to secure the Canal he would stand by 
Panama." j 

Things were at this pass when a new character 
broke his way into the drama — M. Philippe Bunau- 
Varilla, a Frenchman who had worked on the 
Isthmus with the old De Lesseps Company. A 
somewhat picturesque personage was M. Varilla, to 
whom the earth seemed like a school globe which he, 
the teacher, made to revolve at his pleasure. He 
was fired with the mission of seeing the Canal com- 
pleted by the Panama route. So he hurried from 



3i6 JOHN HAY 

Paris to New York, where he got in touch with Dr. 
Manuel Amador Guerrero, a conspirator-patriot 
from Panama, whom he despatched to the Isthmus 
on October 20. Varilla visited Washington, and on 
October 9 called on the President, to whom he 
reported that the only way out in Panama was a 
revolution. A week later (October 16) he saw Secre- 
tary Hay, and when he repeated his prediction of a 
revolution, the Secretary replied that American war- 
ships had orders to proceed to the Isthmus in case 
there was a disturbance there. From that time for- 
ward M. Varilla imparted to every one that the 
revolution would come off on November 3. , 
( President Roosevelt states that it was not the 
urgency of M. Varilla which moved him, but the 
visit of two American officers (Captain Humphrey 
and Lieutenant Murphy) who, having been to the 
Isthmus, reported to him what they saw there. They 
"had discovered," he says, "that various revolu- 
tionary movements were being inaugurated, and 
that a revolution certainly would occur, probably 
immediately after the closing of the Colombian 
Congress at the end of October, but probably not 
before October 20. . . ." This was known on the 
Isthmus. 

"After my interview with the army officers 
named, on October 16, I directed the Navy Depart- 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 317 

ment to issue instructions to send ships to the 
Isthmus so as to protect American interests and 
the lives of American citizens if a revolutionary out- 
break should occur." ^ 

Throughout October Mr. Hay seems to have had 
less and less communication with the Isthmus and 
Bogota, whereas the activity of President Roosevelt 
increased. 

On November 2, he ordered the Nashville, Boston, 
and Dixie to keep the transit across the Isthmus free, 
to "prevent landing of any armed force, either gov- 
ernment or insurgent, at any point within fifty miles 
of Panama." Such orders were by no means novel: 
similar ones had been issued during many previous 
upheavals, as late as 1901. 

The revolution "happened" on November 3 — 
bloodless so far as the combatants were concerned, 
although one Chinaman and one dog were accident- 
ally killed. On November 4 the Republic of Pan- 
ama was proclaimed ; on the 6th the United States 
recognized it. 

A few days later M. Bunau-Varilla returned to 
Washington as the accredited envoy of the new 
Republic, with full powers to conclude a treaty. In 
a letter to his daughter, Mrs. Payne Whitney, 
Secretary Hay describes what happened : — 
1 Metropolitan Magazine, February, 191 5. 



3i8 JOHN HAY 

To Mrs. Helen Hay Whitney 

Washington, November 19, 1903. 

As for your poor old dad, they are working him 
nights and Sundays. I have never, I think, been so 
constantly and actively employed as during the last 
fortnight. Yesterday morning the negotiations with 
Panama were far from complete. But by putting on 
all steam, getting Root and Knox and Shaw to- 
gether at lunch, I went over my project line by line, 
and fought out every section of it; adopted a few 
good suggestions: hurried back to the Department, 
set everybody at work drawing up final drafts — 
sent for Varilla, went over the whole treaty with 
hin, explained all the changes, got his consent, and 
at seven o'clock signed the momentous document in 
the little blue drawing-room, out of Abraham Lin- 
coln's inkstand, and with C 's pen. Varilla 

had no seal, so he used one of mine. (Did I ever 
tell you I sealed the Hay-Herbert Treaty with Lord 
Byron's ring, having nothing else in the house?) 

So that great job is ended — at least this stage of 
it. I have nothing else; will come up before Thanks- 
giving. 

When the Colombians at last comprehended that 
they had overreached themselves, they made a 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 319 

desperate effort to propitiate the United States. 
They sent General Rafael Reyes, their most respect- 
able public man and former president, to Washington 
to beg the Government to reconsider. He engaged 
as his counsel Mr. Wayne MacVeagh, than whom 
none was more resourceful or adroit. According to a 
trustworthy statement he was authorized to say 
that Colombia, for eight million dollars, would let 
bygones be bygones and concede everything. 

On December 4, 1903, Mr. Hay wrote to the 
President : — 

"Can you receive Reyes to-morrow, Saturday? 
If so, at what hour? Permit me to observe the sooner 
you see him, the sooner we can bid him good-bye. 

." I have a complaint to make of Root. I told him 
I was going to see Reyes. He replied, * Better look 
out. Ex- Reyes are dangerous.' Do you think that, 
on my salary, I can afford to bear such things?" 

Mr. Hay had more than one interview with Gen- 
eral Reyes, and on December 24, 1903, he reported 
to the President. 

To President Roosevelt 

General Reyes called yesterday. Said he was 
candidate for Presidency of Colombia. 

I could give him no positive assurances of what he 
could accomplish. I left no doubt in his mind, how- 



320 JOHN HAY 

ever, that we regarded the establishment of the 
Republic of Panama as an accomplished fact which 
we would neither undo ourselves nor permit any out- 
side parties to overthrow; that we had made the 
treaty with Panama on grounds which we thought 
right, and to which we still adhere; that the treaty 
was going to be ratified and carried into effect; but 
that, these facts being accepted by Colombia, we 
should then use our utmost influence to bring about 
a satisfactory state of things between the two Repub- 
lics and ourselves; that^ as to negotiating with Co- 
lombia without regard to the existence of Panama, 
it was out of the question. 

He then handed me a written memorandum of 
complaints and grievances, which is the result of 
MacVeagh's work for the last fortnight. It is very 
long, some twenty-two typewritten pages, in Span- 
ish. It attacks and impeaches our action all along 
the line with considerable energy, but with the usual 
Spanish courtesy of manner, which, I imagine, shows 
the hand of the translator more than the author, and 
ends by asking the submission of all pending ques- 
tions to The Hague. I at once sent the document to 
the State Department to be translated, with orders 
that it be submitted to you as soon as it is written out. 

Responsibility for the dynamic solution of the 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 321 

Panama Question rested entirely with the President, 
who seems not even to have informed Secretary Hay 
and the Cabinet officers of his acts. As early as 
October 10 he wrote confidentially to Dr. Albert 
Shaw, editor of the Review of Reviews, that, as "there 

. was absolutely not the slightest chance of securing 
by treaty" [from Colombia], the alternatives were 
to accept the inferior Nicaragua route or to take 

, the Panama territory by force. ..." I cast aside the 
proposition at this time to foment the secession of 
Panama. Whatever other Governments can do, the 
United States cannot go into the securing, by such 
underhand means, the cession." What followed we 
need no longer conjecture. M. Bunau-Varilla laid 
the train for the explosion; the arrival of American 
warships created the condition by which the revo- 
lution must succeed. , 

Although Secretary Hay did not take part in the 
actual revolution, he immediately announced his 
approval of it, and he never qualified — much less 
withdrew — this approval. Among his papers, I have 
found no hint that he felt remorse — as has been 
alleged — for the crime ; nor can I believe that any 
regrets secretly preyed upon him and shortened his 
days. If testimony has any weight, his own confi- 
dential statements should be preferred to the sur- 
mises of persons who never knew him. 



322 JOHN HAY 

To Senator George F. Hoar 

January ii, 1904. 

The President tells me that in a letter to him you 
refer to a newspaper publication to the effect that, 
in discussing the subject of the coming revolution in 
Panama with a Mr. Duque, on his informing me that 
the revolution was to take place on the 23d of Sep- 
tember, I had said to him that that was too early, and 
it ought to be deferred. I now find the same state- 
ment copied from the Evening Post in a speech by 
Senator Morgan in the Senate. 

It seems rather humiliating to be obliged to refer 
to such a story, but, since you mentioned it to the 
President and since it seems to have made some im- 
pression upon your mind, I venture to say to you, 
confidentially, that I never saw Mr. Duque but once, 
that I never saw him alone, and that nothing in the 
remotest degree resembling this printed conversation 
was ever said by either of us. 

When members of the Yale Faculty wrote protest- 
ing against the iniquity of the "rape of Panama," 
he wrote the following letter, to which Secretary 
Root sent a counterpart, declaring even more em- 
phatically the need of action on the Isthmus, and 
his belief that the action taken was right. 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 323 

i 
To Professor George P. Fisher 

Washington, January 20, 1904. 

Your letter of the 19th of January has given me 
great pleasure. I can even congratulate myself on 
the unexpected and unaccountable action of some 
of your colleagues which has procured me so agree- 
able a letter. I shall take pleasure in bringing it to 
the notice of the President. 

Some of our greatest scholars, in their criticisms of 
public life, suffer from the defect of arguing from 
pure reason, and taking no account of circumstances. 
While I agree that no circumstances can ever jus- 
tify a Government in doing wrong, the question as 
to whether the Governm.ent has acted rightly or 
wrongly can never be justly judged without the 
circumstances being considered. I am sure that if 
the President had acted differently when, the 3d of 
November, he was confronted by a critical situation 
which might easily have turned to disaster, the 
attacks which are now made on him would have been 
ten times more virulent and more effective. He must 
have done exactly as he did, or the only alternative 
would have been an indefinite duration of bloodshed 
and devastation through the whole extent of the 
Isthmus. It was a time to act and not to theorize, and 
my judgment at least is clear that he acted rightly. 



324 JOHN HAY 

Among the stern censors of the "crime" was 
James C. Carter, then the leader of the American 
Bar. Of his criticisms Mr. Hay wrote to a col- 
league : — 

To Secretary Elihu Root 

March 12, 1904. 

How on earth a fair-minded man could prefer that 
the President should have taken possession of the 
Isthmus, mailed hand, and built a canal in defiance of 
the Constitution, the laws, and the treaties, rather 
than the perfectly regular course which the Presi- 
dent did follow, passes my comprehension. And that 
he should persist in this view after reading your 
speech^ only adds to the mystery. I have not hitherto 
spoken to you about that admirable address, I be- 
lieve, but as a work of art, as a piece of oratory, and 
history, I think it is incomparable. And, as a legal 
argument, better lawyers than I think it is without 
a flaw. Carter could not have read it with an open 
mind and persist in his error. I frankly confess my- 
self unable to add anything to the unanswerable 
demonstration which you have made of the case. 

Finally, Mr. Loomis, who was Assistant Secretary 
of State under Mr. Hay, gives his testimony in a 
letter to me dated June 15, 1915: — 

1 "The Ethics of the Panama Question." Address before The 
Union League Club of Chicago, February 22, 1904, 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 325 

" I think ... I can possibly be of slight assistance 
in so far as the matter of Mr. Hay's connection with 
the Panama revolution is concerned. If Mr. Hay 
were alive you would probably enjoy his comment 
upon those ' good people ' who assure you * that he 
died of remorse for his share in the rape of Panama.' 
People who think and say things of that sort he par- 
ticularly detested. 

"I am sure that you find no trace of remorse in 
any of his letters or anywhere else, for the sufficient 
and solid reason that he felt no such remorse and 
therefore could not have expressed it. I had very 
many talks with Mr. Hay about the Panama revolu- 
tion and what followed and what preceded it. I 
spent two hours with him or more on the last after- 
noon he was in Washington and I recall distinctly 
that in one conversation on that occasion he spoke 
with pride and satisfaction of what had been done 
in Panama." 

Not all the critics condemned him. To Mr. 
Rhodes, the historian, he sent this grateful reply: — 

To James Ford Rhodes 

Washington, D.C, December 8, 1903. 

I thank you for breaking an occasional lance for us 
in the headquarters of Mugwumpery. When I think 
of how many mistakes I have made which have 



326 JOHN HAY 

escaped notice, I ought not to be dissatisfied with 
being lambasted in an occasional case where I have 
done right. It is hard for me to understand how any 
one can criticize our action in Panama on the 
grounds upon which it is ordinarily attacked. The 
matter came on us with amazing celerity. We had 
to decide on the instant whether we would take 
possession of the ends of the railroad and keep the 
traffic clear, or whether we would stand back and 
let those gentlemen cut each other's throats for an 
indefinite time, and destroy whatever remnant of our 
property and our interests we had there. I had no 
hesitation as to the proper course to take, and have 
had no doubt of the propriety of it since. 

When Mr. Hay negotiated a treaty with the infant 
Republic of Panama as to the building of the Canal, 
he met with denunciation from an unexpected quar- 
ter. Senator Morgan broke loose in violent letters, 
one of which he addressed to the President of the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

To President H. S. Pritchett 

December 28, 1903. 

I return herewith General Morgan's letter. . . . 
He is in such a state of mind in regard to the Canal 
that if you should answer everything he said cate- 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 327 

gorically, contradicting him with his own public 
utterances, it would have no effect on him. As he 
admits in paragraph 3, page i, he is as much the 
author of the present Canal Treaty as I am. Not 
only did I embody in it all his amendments to the 
Herran Treaty, but I went further than he has ever 
done in getting the proper guaranties for jurisdiction 
over the Canal. A year ago he wrote me a series of 
earnest and impassioned letters, which he afterward 
embodied in articles in some of the religious periodi- 
cals, denouncing the Government of Colombia as 
the sum of all iniquities, and saying that we were 
violating every law human and divine in favor of 
the Government of Colombia against the Liberals 
of Panama, insisting that it was our bounden duty to 
aid them in attaining their liberty. How can you 
argue with a man whose prejudices are so violent 
and so variable as this? 

Reviewing the transaction after a dozen years, 
Mr. Roosevelt says in a private letter to me dated 
July 2, 1915: — 

"To talk of Colombia as a responsible Power to 
be dealt with as we would deal with Holland or Bel- 
gium or Switzerland or Denmark is a mere absurdity. 
The analogy is with a group of Sicilian or Calabrian 
bandits; with Villa and Carranza at this moment. 



328 JOHN HAY 

You could no more make an agreement with the 
Colombian rulers than you could nail currant jelly 
to a wall — and the failure to nail currant jelly to a 
wall is not due to the nail ; it is due to the currant 
jelly. I did my best to get them to act straight. 
Then I determined that I would do what ought to 
be done without regard to them. The people of Pan- 
ama were a unit in desiring the Canal and in wishing 
to overthrow the rule of Colombia. If they had not 
revolted, I should have recommended Congress to 
take possession of the Isthmus by force of arms; 
and, as you will see, I had actually written the first 
draft of my Message to this effect. When they re- 
volted, I promptly used the Navy to prevent the 
bandits, who had tried to hold us up, from spending 
months of futile bloodshed in conquering or en- 
deavoring to conquer the Isthmus, to the lasting 
damage of the Isthmus, of us, and of the world. I 
did not consult Hay, or Root, or any one else as to 
what I did, because a council of war does not fight; 
and I intended to do the job once for all." 

To sum up. So far as I know, the apologists of the 
Colombians have never brought forward a single 
fact that palliates, much less excuses, the acts of the 
dominant ring at Bogota from the beginning to the 
end of this affair. That ring was moved by the in- 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 329 

stinct of blackmailers, one of the lowest of human 
instincts, because it combines fraud and cowardice. 
By the Treaty of 1846 the Colombians were bound 
to grant a charter for an Isthmian canal; and the 
price to be paid by the United States for this charter 
was to be settled by mutual agreement. They broke 
that obligation in refusing to accept the terms 
which their agent, Dr. Herran, negotiated ; yet those 
terms must have been communicated to him from 
Bogota, and the Government which sent them must 
have thought at the time of sending that they were 
ample. It went further and showed no intention of 
making any other proposal. Again, the Bogota ring 
broke faith in arbitrarily changing the date of the 
expiration of the French company's concession from 
1910 to 1904. How exorbitant their demands were, 
and how shameless they were themselves, appeared 
when, having lost Panama, they offered to sell out 
to the United States for eight million dollars, and 
even for five million, all the rights for which in their 
greed they had demanded twenty-five million. At 
the end of October, with the truculence of black- 
mailers who suppose they have their victim at their 
mercy, they demanded the twenty-five millions; but 
by the middle of December they were begging for 
five. 

Although their action was odious, we must ask 



330 JOHN HAY 

whether blackmailers have no rights, even when 
they deny the rights of others. Must we not keep 
faith even with the faithless? The laws of each civil- 
ized state recognize that the rights of individuals 
may be set aside by the State for the prosecution of 
works of great public importance; but this law of 
eminent domain in international affairs does not 
exist. When we were building the transcontinental 
railways we should never have allowed a tribe of 
Modocs, or of Apaches, who happened to occupy 
territory through which the line was to go, to block 
the construction ; if they had attempted to resist we 
should have driven them off. So if some villages 
of Cretins had stood at the Swiss entrance of the 
Simplon Tunnel, they would have been removed. 
In such cases the proper action is self-evident. But 
where shall we draw the line between right action 
and injustice and brutality? How shall we escape 
from justifying the shockingly cynical treatment of 
Inferior by Superior peoples? Evidently, each case 
must be decided on its merits. Morally, the Colom- 
bians were Cretins, but with the rapacity of wild 
Indians. The Canal which the American Govern- 
ment planned was for the benefit of the entire world. 
Should the blackmailing greed of the Bogota ring 
stand in the way of civilization? I believe there 
is only one answer to this question — blackmailers 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 331 

must not be tolerated; but I believe also that it is 
so important that respect for legality should never 
be undermined that it would have been better if the 
United States had openly given notice that they in- 
tended to take the Canal Zone rather than to have 
it appear that they were conniving at a conspiracy. 
Our action in Panama had of course nothing in com- 
mon with such international crimes as the German 
destruction of Belgium in 1914. That was a deliber- 
ate, atrocious act of a nation which had reverted 
to the war code of barbarians. It could not be de- 
fended on the plea that a Superior People was 
assimilating an Inferior People, for the Belgians 
were as "superior" as the Germans. The only justi- 
fication which the Germans offered was that it was a 
military necessity for their own selfish aggrandize- 
ment. Until there is some international tribunal to 
apply the law of eminent domain where it is needed, 
we shall probably find selfishness the test or meas- 
ure which determines our judgment in such matters. 
We cannot allow the specious plea that a State may 
do ill that good may follow. Atrocity condemns 
itself. 



CHAPTER XXX 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT SKETCHED BY JOHN HAY 

JOHN HAY had the unique fortune of serving 
President Lincoln as Private Secretary and 
President Roosevelt as Secretary of State. He was 
a youth when he lived in the White House with 
Lincoln; he had passed threescore when, after 
McKinley's death, he accepted Roosevelt's urgent 
invitation to continue at the head of the State 
Department. Having assembled elsewhere the ex- 
tracts from his diaries and letters in which he 
portrays the intimate life of Lincoln carrying the 
burden of the Civil War, I propose to present here 
the pieces, bit by bit, which make up his mosaic 
portrait of Roosevelt. 

John Hay had known Theodore Roosevelt's fa- 
ther, his senior by only seven years, in Washington 
at the time of the war, and afterwards when Hay 
was on the editorial staff of the Tribune and lived 
in New York. No doubt he watched intently the 
early career of Theodore, who, within two years of 
his graduation from Harvard in 1880, came to be 
known throughout the country by his work as a re- 
former in the New York Assembly. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 333 

Thereafter, Mr. Roosevelt soon enjoyed a na- 
tional reputation. In 1889, on being appointed by 
President Harrison a member of the National Civil 
Service Commission, he removed to Washington, 
where he quickly made a place apart for himself, 
mixing cheerily with all sorts of men, equally at home 
with Cabinet officers and cowboys, surprising some, 
puzzling others, amusing nearly all. I have heard 
Mr. Rudyard Kipling tell how he used to drop in at 
the Cosmos Club at half past ten or so in the evening, 
and presently young Roosevelt would come and pour 
out projects, discussions of men and politics, criti- 
cisms of books, in a swift and fuU-volumed stream, 
tremendously emphatic and enlivened by bursts 
of humor. *'I curled up on the seat opposite," said 
Kipling, "and listened and wondered, until the uni- 
verse seemed to be spinning round and Theodore was 
the spinner." 

Among old friends were the Henry Cabot Lodges 
— Mr. Lodge, now a member of Congress, having 
been instructor in history at Harvard and a valued 
political mentor during Mr. Roosevelt's undergradu- 
ate days. At Mr. Henry Adams's he found a ready 
welcome. There, of course, he met Mr. Hay, and 
before long the Hays and the Roosevelts stood on 
the friendliest footing. 

Of this period no letters remain, and naturally, 



334 JOHN HAY 

because persons who live in the same town, and see 
each other often, have little need to write. In 1895, 
Mr. Roosevelt returned to New York City, where he 
was Police Commissioner for two years. Then Presi- 
dent McKinley made him Assistant Secretary of the 
Navy, a post which he resigned in the spring of 1898 
to organize the regiment of Rough Riders and take 
part in the Spanish War. 

Just as Mr. Roosevelt was coming to Washington 
to enter the Navy Department, John Hay was leav- 
ing for London to be American Ambassador. From 
the steamer St. Paul Hay writes, on April 20, 1897 : — 

Hay to Roosevelt 

We are nearing land after a voyage of such extra- 
ordinary mansuetude that my wife and daughter have 
joined us at lunch every day. Herodotus [Henry] 
Adams has been as fit as a fiddle; Bigelow has kept 
us keyed up to a proper degree of Brahminical opti- 
mism ; Chandler Hale has had only one headache a 
day, which he bears with a cheerful meekness which 
makes the rest of us ashamed to swear ; and Colwell 
is always on hand with quaint seafaring wisdom. 
' We all send over our loves and best wishes to you 
and Mrs. Roosevelt in your old-new home. De- 
cidedly, Washington cannot do without you. We 
have given the thing a fair trial and it does not go. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 335 

It seems a long day since we left Lafayette Square. 
Take good care of all our beloveds. Hurry up Mrs. 
C.'s convalescence and send her over here to finish 
her conquest of the peerage. And as to them there 
Lodges, June won't be June unshared with them. 

From London, after he had been several months In 
the Embassy, Hay wrote: — 

Hay to Roosevelt 

[London, September 29, 1897.] 

I have your letter of the 21st and agree with 
every word of it. I assure you I shall bear no hand 
in such business — unless I am ordered, which I do 
not think possible — and in that case I will consider. 
I have not heard of it and it sounds faky. 

I try to hold the scales as level as I can over here, 
not kissing them nor kicking them. I have received 
a great deal of kindness from all sorts of people and 
have read a lot of abuse of my country from all 
sorts of papers. I used rather to think we had a mo- 
nopoly of abusive newspapers, but I really believe 
these people are our equals in vituperation. 

It is a curious fact that while no Englishman, not 
a madman, wants to fight us, and no American, not 
an idiot, wants to fight England, there is never a civil 
word about England printed in America, and rarely 



336 JOHN HAY 

a civil word about us printed in England. Whether 
this ill-will is all historical, or partly prophetical, I 
cannot say. 

I implore my friends at Washington not to be too 
nasty in their talk about John Bull; for every idle 
word of theirs I get banged about the lot, till I am 
all colors of the rainbow. 

There are many things of which I would fain dis- 
course to you, but most of them are unfinished and 
not decent subjects of conversation. Sometimes, in 
the future, for which I already begin to long, we may 
have our will of them over a pipe and a bottle. I 
neither drink, nor smoke, nor talk, but it sounds jovial. 

X, the outcast wretch, was in town this week, but 
only gave me five minutes ; he was flying to Paris to 
see Mrs. C. Germany certainly queers a man's taste; 
fancy any one preferring to see Mrs. C. rather than 
me. But [Senator] Wolcott is coming to-night. C. 
F. Adams is here. He goes roaring about that nei- 
ther McKinley, nor Wolcott, nor I want the Com- 
mission [on Bi-metallism] to succeed. 

Particularly characteristic are the whimsical pas- 
sages in this letter. 

Nearly a year later, when the Spanish War was 
at an end, Mr. Hay sent these greetings to the Colo- 
nel of the Rough Riders : — 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 337 

Hay to Roosevelt 

[London, July 27, 1898.] 

I am afraid I am the last of your friends to con- 
gratulate you on the brilliant campaign which now 
seems drawing to a close, and in which you have 
gained so much experience and glory. When the war 
began I was like the rest ; I deplored your place in the 
Navy where you were so useful and so acceptable. 
But I knew it was idle to preach to a young man. 
You obeyed your own daemon, and I imagine we 
older fellows will all have to confess that you were 
in the right. As Sir Walter wrote : — 

"One crowded hour of glorious life 
Is worth an age without a name." 

You have written your name on several pages of your 
country's history, and they are all honorable to you 
and comfortable to your friends. 

It has been a splendid little war; begun with the 
highest motives, carried on with magnificent intelli- 
gence and spirit, favored by that Fortune which loves 
the brave. It is now to be concluded, I hope, with 
that fine good nature, which is, after all, the distin- 
guishing trait of the American character. 

A few months wrought great changes in the posi- 
tion of both correspondents. Colonel Roosevelt came 



338 JOHN HAY 

back from the war and was elected Governor of New 
York; Ambassador Hay took up in October the work 
of Secretary of State. The following letter is from 
Governor Roosevelt. 

Roosevelt to Hay 

Executive Mansion, Albany, 
Feb. 7th, '99. 

My dear Mr. Secretary: — 

Just a few lines to congratulate you on bringing 
to so successful an end so great a work. Ambassa- 
dor, and Secretary of State, during the most import- 
ant year this Republic has seen since Lincoln died 

— those are positions worth filling, fraught with mem- 
ories that your children's children will recall with 
eager pride. You have indeed led a life eminently 
worth living, oh, writer of books and doer of deeds! 

— and, in passing, builder of beautiful houses and 
father of strong sons and fair daughters. 

Compared with the great game of which Washing- 
ton is the centre, my own work here is parochial. But 
it is interesting too; and so far I seem to have been 
fairly successful in overcoming the centrifugal forces 
always so strong in the Republican party. I am get- 
ting on well with Senator Piatt, and I am apparently 
satisfying the wishes of the best element in our own 
party; of course I have only begun, but so far I think 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 339 

the state is the better, and the party the stronger, 
for my administration. 

With love to Mrs. Hay, I am 

Ever faithfully yours, 

Theodore Roosevelt. 

The draft of the first Hay-Pauncefote Treaty drew 
forth from Governor Roosevelt the following friendly 
but keen and destructive criticism in a private let- 
ter to Secretary Hay : — 

Roosevelt to Hay 

State of New York, 
Executive Chamber, Albany, 
4 Feb. i8th, 1900. 

I hesitated long before I said anything about the 
treaty through sheer dread of two moments — that 
in which I should receive your note, and that in which 
I should receive Cabot's.^ But I made up my mind 
that at least I wished to be on record; for to my 
mind this step is one backward, and it may be 
fraught with very great mischief. You have been 
the greatest Secretary of State I have seen in my 
time — Olney comes second — but at this moment 
I cannot, try as I may, see that you are right. Under- 
stand me. When the treaty is adopted, as I suppose 

* Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. 



340 JOHN HAY 

it will be, I shall put the best face possible on it, and 
shall back the Administration as heartily as ever; 
but oh, how I wish you and the President would drop 
the treaty and push through a bill to build and 
fortify our own canal. 

My objections are twofold. First, as to naval pol- 
icy. If the proposed canal had been in existence in 
'98, the Oregon could have come more quickly through 
to the Atlantic; but this fact would have been far 
outweighed by the fact that Cervera's fleet would 
have had open to it the chance of itself going through 
the canal, and thence sailing to attack Dewey or to 
menace our stripped Pacific Coast. If that canal is 
open to the warships of an enemy, it is a menace to 
us in time of war; it is an added burden, an addi- 
tional strategic point to be guarded by our fleet. If 
fortified by us, it becomes one of the most potent 
sources of our possible sea strength. Unless so forti- 
fied it strengthens against us every nation whose 
fleet is larger than ours. One prime reason for forti- 
fying our great seaports is to unfetter our fleet, to 
release it for offensive purposes; and the proposed 
canal would fetter it again, for our fleet would have 
to watch it, and therefore do the work which a fort 
should do; and what it could do much better. 

Secondly, as to the Monroe Doctrine. If we invite 
(foreign powers to a joint ownership, a joint guaran- 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 341 

tee, of what so vitally concerns us but a little way 
from our borders, how can we possibly object to simi- 
lar joint action say in Southern Brazil or Argentina, 
where our interests are so much less evident? If Ger- 
many has the same right that we have in the canal 
across Central America, why not in the partition of 
any part of Southern America? To my mind, we 
should consistently refuse to all European powers 
the right to control, in any shape, any territory in 
the Western Hemisphere which they do not already 
hold. 

As for existing treaties — I do not admit the 
"dead hand" of the treaty-making power in the 
past. A treaty can always be honorably abrogated 
— though it must never be abrogated in dishonest 
fashion. 

Yours ever, 

Theodore Roosevelt. 

To understand the sarcasm of the next paragraph 
we must remember that Governor Roosevelt proved 
too independent to be acceptable to Senator Piatt, 
the Republican boss of New York State. While his 
popularity with the people was undiminished, the 
machine found him so inconvenient that it plotted 
to get him out of the way by nominating him for the 
Vice- Presidency. Mr. Roosevelt, however, had no 



342 JOHN HAY 

desire to be put into the vice-presidential chair, whose 
occupant, Hke that of the dodo's nest, becomes pain- 
lessly obsolete. 

Secretary Hay on June 15, 1900, wrote as follows 
in confidence to his friend Mr. Henry White, at the 
American Embassy in London : — 

"Teddy has been here: have you heard of it? It 
was more fun than a goat. He came down with a 
sombre resolution thrown on his strenuous brow to 
let McKinley and Hanna know once for all that he 
would not be Vice-President, and found to his stupe- 
faction that nobody in Washington except Piatt had 
ever dreamed of such a thing. He did not even have 
a chance to launch his nolo episcopari at the major. 
That statesman said he did not want him on the 
ticket — that he would be far more valuable in 
New York — and Root said, with his frank and 
murderous smile, * Of course not, — you're not fit 
for it.' And so he went back quite eased in his mind, 
but considerably bruised in his amour propre.'* 

Mr. Roosevelt, however, has always had a way of 
surprising his friends and his opponents, too, by do- 
ing what seemed to him the most natural thing. He 
forced Piatt to agree that he should have the Repub- 
lican renomination for Governor. But in the Con- 
vention, when the delegates from one state after 
another outside of New York stampeded to him and 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 343 

would not nominate anyone else, he accepted the 
second place on the Republican ticket. 

Thereupon Secretary Hay sent him the friendliest 
greeting on June 21 : — 

Hay to Roosevelt 

My dear Governor, — 

As it is all over but the shouting, I take a moment 
of this cool morning of the longest day in the year 
to offer you my cordial congratulations. The week 
has been a racking one to you. But I have no doubt 
the future will make amends. You have received the 
greatest compliment the country could pay you, 
and although it was not precisely what you and your 
friends desire, I have no doubt it is all for the best. 
Nothing can keep you from doing good work where- 
ever you are — nor from getting lots of fun out 
of it. 

We Washingtonians, of course, have our own 
little point of view. You can't lose us; and we shall 
be uncommonly glad to see you here again. 

During the few months which Mr. Roosevelt 
served as Vice-President, his relations with the Secre- 
tary seem to have been purely social, with no inter- 
change of letters. Then, suddenly, the assassination 
of President McKinley brought the "young fellow 



344 JOHN HAY 

of infinite dash and originality" — as Hay described 
him to Lady Jeune — into the White House. On 
September 15, 1900, the Secretary wrote to the new 
President : — 

Hay to Roosevelt 

My dear Roosevelt, — 

If the Presidency had come to you in any other 
way, no one would have congratulated you with 
better heart than I. My sincere affection and esteem 
for you, my old-time love for your father — would 
he could have lived to see you where you are ! — 
would have been deeply gratified. 

And even from the depths of the sorrow where I 
sit, with my grief for the President mingled and con- 
fused with that for my boy, so that I scarcely know, 
from hour to hour, the true source of my tears — I do 
still congratulate you, not only on the opening of an 
official career which I know will be glorious, but upon 
the vast opportunity for useful work which lies be- 
fore you. With your youth, your ability, your health 
and strength, the courage God has given you to do 
right, there are no bounds to the good you can ac- 
complish for your country and the name you will 
leave in its annals. 

My official life is at an end — my natural life will 
not be long extended; and so, in the dawn of what 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 345 

I am sure will be a great and splendid future, I ven- 
ture to give you the heartfelt benediction of the past. 

God bless you. 

Yours faithfully, 

John Hay. 

When the President reached Washington, Mr. Hay 
met him at the railway station; and Mr. Roosevelt, 
instead of listening to the Secretary's desire to re- 
sign, made him promise to stay on and carry out 
the work he was doing. " I saw it was best for him 
to start off that way, and so I said I would stay, 
forever, of course, for it would be worse to say I would 
stay awhile, than it would be to go out at once." 

Until Mr. Hay's death, nearly four years later, he 
and President Roosevelt lived on intimate terms, 
official and personal. The President enjoyed Hay's 
sparkling conversation and irony: Hay appreciated 
the President's vigor and downrightness, his humor 
and dash and talent, and his enlivening surprises; he 
felt, too, the President's masterful grip on the inter- 
national relations of the Government. Mr. Roose- 
velt, a voracious reader, found in Mr. Hay not only 
a lover of literature but a maker of it, and a critic of 
fine taste. At the outset a day rarely went by when 
the Secretary and his Chief did not meet to confer 
on public matters, and on the margins of the frequent 



346 JOHN HAY 

notes which passed between them there were often 
jotted informal comments, or witty asides. Sundays, 
after church, the President stopped regularly at the 
Secretary's for a chat. 

The following letter, for example, shows how Hay's 
sense of humor enabled him to refer playfully to a 
matter which, in Berlin, seemed monstrously im- 
portant. The Kaiser had had struck off medals to 
commemorate the glories of the German Army in 
China, and apparently the official of the German 
Embassy, who was ordered to present one of these 
to President Roosevelt, was almost overpowered at 
the honor which the President was about to receive. 

Hay to Roosevelt 
[State Department, November 12, 190 1.] 

Count Quadt has been hovering around the State 
Department in ever-narrowing circles for three days, 
and at last swooped upon me this afternoon, saying 
that the Foreign Office, and even the Palace, Unter 
den Linden, was in a state of intense anxiety to know 
how you received His Majesty's Chinese medal, 
conferred only upon the greatest sovereigns. As I 
had not been authorized by you to express your 
emotions, I had to sail by dead reckoning, and, con- 
sidering the vast intrinsic value of the souvenir — I 
should say at least thirty-five cents — and its won- 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 347 

derful artistic merit, representing the German Eagle 
eviscerating the Black Dragon, and its historical ac- 
curacy, which gives the world to understand that Ger- 
many was IT and the rest of the universe nowhere, 
I took the responsibility of saying to Count Quadt 
that the President could not have received the medal 
with anything but emotions of pleasure commen- 
surate with the high appreciation he entertains for 
the Emperor's majesty, and that a formal acknowl- 
edgment would be made in due course. He asked 
me if he was at liberty to say something like this to 
his Government, and I said he was at liberty to say 
whatever the spirit moved him to utter. 

I give thanks to "whatever powers there be" that 
I was able to allow him to leave the room without 
quoting '* quantula sapiential'' 

On Christmas Day, 1901, the President sent this 
little note to the Secretary, to whom death had re- 
cently brought another loss, his friend Clarence King 
having died the day before. 

Roosevelt to Hay 
Dear John: — 

I am very, very sorry : I know it is useless for me 
to say so — but I do feel deeply for you. You have 
been well within range of the rifle pits this year — 



348 JOHN HAY 

so near that I do not venture to wish you a merry 
Christmas. But may all good henceforth go with 
you and yours. 

Your attached friend, 

Theodore Roosevelt. 

In 1902, President Roosevelt and Secretary Hay 
attended the Harvard Commencement exercises 
where both received the degree of Doctor of Laws. 
At the Alumni Dinner, President Roosevelt made a 
stirring speech in which, after declaring that it was 
"indeed a liberal education in high-minded states- 
manship to sit at the same council-table with John 
Hay," he eulogized the great work of Wood, Taft, 
and Root. 

The next day Mr. Hay wrote him from the Hotel 
Touraine, Boston : — 

Hay to Roosevelt 

[Boston, June 26, 1902.] 

Dear Theodore: — 

I must congratulate you with all my heart on yes- 
terday's triumph — it was nothing less. That great 
company was a corps d' elite, and you had them with 
you from start to finish. President Eliot when you 
sat down said, "What a man! Genius, force, and 
courage, and such evident honesty!" 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 349 

And another thought was in everybody's mind 
also. "He is so young and he will be with us for 
many a day to come." We are all glad of that — 
even the old fellows, who are passing 

I can never tell you how much I thank you for 
your kind reference to me. But your splendid de- 
fense of Root, Wood, and Taft touched me still more 
deeply. It was the speech of a great man, and a 
great gentleman — and will not be forgotten. 

Yours affectionately, 

John Hay. 

The little note, undated, which follows, seems to 
refer to a literary point which had come up in con- 
versation. 

Dear Theodore — 

" Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of Folly, 
Most musical, most melancholy!" 

// Penseroso. 

"With thee conversing I forget all" authorities. 

J. H. 

In the spring of 1903, the President made a long 
tour of the West during which he addressed many 
gatherings. Hay writes : — 



350 JOHN HAY 

Hay to Roosevelt 

[Washington, April 5, 1903.] 

Your speeches have been admirable — strong 
lucid, and eloquent; they will make a splendid plat- 
form for next year. 

They are having an extraordinary reception all 
over the country. I send you a leader from to-day's 
Sun. It carries out what I said the other day — 
they are going to give you a hearty support. Root 
made a very fine speech in Boston. . . . Do not let 
them work you too hard. Wisconsin has been ter- 
ribly exacting. You owe something to the rest of the 
country — not to speak of Mrs. Roosevelt and the 
children. 

The next note refers to messages addressed to Ed- I 
ward VII and William II at the time of the cruise of 
the American fleet abroad. 

Hay to Roosevelt 

[July 13, 1903.] 

I thank you a thousand times for your kind and 
generous letter of the nth. It is a comfort to work 
for a President who, besides being a lot of other 
things, happened to be born a gentleman. . . . 

Perhaps you may think your telegram to King 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 351 

Edward rather deficient in warmth. But you did not 
want to make it warmer than the one to your great 
and good friend WilHam. I am always in favor of the 
ne quid nimium. The whole cruise has been a great 
success. Germany and England have both bid high, 
and our attitude of platonic friendship to both has 
been well maintained. 

From John Hay's Diary, which he kept from 
January i, 1904, until a few days before his death, 
I extract the most interesting passages about Mr. 
Roosevelt: — 

"7904. Jan. ly. The President came in for an 
hour and talked very amusingly on many matters. 
Among others he spoke of a letter he had received 
from an old lady in Canada denouncing him for hav- 
ing drunk a toast to Helen [Hay] at her wedding 
two years ago. The good soul had waited two years, 
hoping that the pulpit or the press would take up 
this enormity. 'Think,' she said, 'of the effect on 
your friends, on your children, on your own immor- 
tal soul, of such a thoughtless act.' 

*' March 14. We lunched with the President; 
Cardinal Gibbons, the Hengelmiillers, Thayers, and 
others were there. . . . The Cardinal told the Presi- 
dent he hoped earnestly for his election. He is deeply 
disgusted with the campaign of Gorman against the 



352 JOHN HAY 

negroes. He told the President that he had seen a 
memorial drawn up by an eminent lawyer in favor 
of paying a large sum to Colombia for her rights 
in Panama. He would not tell the name of the emi- 
nent lawyer, but a light of recognition came into his 
cold blue eye when the President told him that X. 
favored paying the money to Reyes, as that would 
strengthen the Liberals as against the Clericals ! 

^^ March i8. At the Cabinet meeting to-day the 
President said some one had written asking if he 
wanted to annex any more Islands. He answered, 
* about as much as a gorged anaconda wants to swal- 
low a porcupine wrong end to.' . . . He was ereinting 
some one, when it was observed that the man was 
doubtless conscientious. 'Well,' he burst out, 'if a 
man has a conscience which leads him to do things 
like that, he should take it out and look at it — for 
it is unhealthy.' 

" March 20. The President talked of the situation, 
which seems to him very rosy: he thinks that Con- 
gress will adjourn by the first of May and that every- 
thing will go smoothly during the summer; that 
Parker will probably be nominated by the Demo- 
crats, but that he will not be formidable. The things 
that annoy him most are trifles ; such as the cost of 
the White House improvements, the upholstering 
of the Mayflower y etc. He has heard that some people 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 353 

in New York have said he was a grotesque figure in 
the White House, and wonders what they mean. 

''March 2J. The President is much preoccupied 
about the Chairmanship of the National Committee. 
His mind is now turned to Root. I should be glad 
if he would take it: it would still further extend his 
reputation and his national standing, to carry on a 
campaign which is sure to be interesting and whole- 
some, and crowned by a great success. It would be 
an advantage also to the party to keep its best men 
like Root and Taft, etc., as much to the front as pos- 
sible, for the sake of the contrast, etc. 

''April 5. At the Cabinet meeting this morning it 
was suggested that would be a good candi- 
date ' to carry Maryland ' — (which Gary says we 
will carry anyhow). Taft said: 'Mr. President, are 
you particular about your company?' T. answered: 
*I am a liberal man,' and said no more. 

Shaw told a good story about poor Senator . 

He and some more grafters had agreed to press a 

certain bill through the Legislature, and had 

been paid for it. As the session drew near its close 

the lobbyist grew alarmed and went to see , 

who demanded a supplement. The man said : ' What 
can I say to my principals, who thought this matter 

settled?' 'Tell them,' said thoughtfully, 

'that I'm acting dam strange.' 



354 JOHN HAY 

"April 10. The President came In and talked 
mostly about the situation in New York, which an- 
noys him greatly and somewhat alarms him. He sees 
a good many lions in the path — but I told him of 
the far greater beasts that appeared to some people 
as in Lincoln's way, which turned out to be only bob- 
cats after all. 

''April 26. At the Cabinet this morning the Presi- 
dent talked of his Japanese wrestler, who is giving 
him lessons in Jiu Jitsu. He says the muscles of his 
throat are so powerfully developed by training that 
it is impossible for any ordinary man to strangle him. 
If the President succeeds, once in a while, in getting 
the better of him, he says, 'Good! lovely!' 

''May 8. The President was reading Emerson's 
'Days' and came to the wonderful closing line: 'I, 
too late. Under her solemn fillet saw the scorn.' I 
said, ' I fancy you do not know what that means.' 
'O, do I not? Perhaps the greatest men do not, but 
I in my soul know I am but the average man, and 
that only marvelous good fortune has brought me 
where I am.' 

" May 12. Bade the President good-bye. He said, 
with jeering good nature, he hoped I would enjoy 
my well-earned rest. [Mr. Hay was going to make 
an address at the World's Fair in St. Louis.] 

"June 5. [The President] spoke of his own 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 355 

speeches, saying he knew there was not much in them 
except a certain sincerity and kind of commonplace 
morahty which put him en rapport with the people 
he talked with. He told me with singular humor and 
recklessness of the way X and the late lamented 
Holls tried to put him on his guard against me. 

"June 21. The President returned from Valley 
Forge yesterday and we all congratulated him at the 
Cabinet meeting to-day on his sermon on Sunday. 
It seems it was entirely impromptu, Knox having 
asked him to speak only just before church time. 
K. says the question what is to become of Roosevelt 
after 1908 is easily answered. He should be made a 
Bishop. 

"August II. I dined with the President last night. 
. . . After dinner we adjourned to the library and the 
President read his letter of acceptance. I was struck 
with the readiness with which he accepted every 
suggestion which was made. 

' ' A ugust I J . I went to the White House this morn- 
ing and found the President screaming with delight 
over a proposition in the [New York] Eventing Post 
that Wayne MacVeagh should be Secretary of State 
in Parker's Cabinet. So the dear Wayne has wearied 
of waiting for my envied shoes at the hands of Roose- 
velt. 

"October 17. I lunched at the White House — 



356 JOHN HAY 

nobody else but Yves Guyot and Theodore Stanton. 
The President talked with great energy and perfect 
ease the most curious French I ever listened to. It 
was absolutely lawless as to grammar and occasion- 
ally bankrupt in substantives; but he had not the 
least difficulty in making himself understood, and 
one subject did not worry him more than another. 

''October 23. The President came in this morning 
badly bunged about the head and face. His horse 
fell with him yesterday and gave him a bad fall. It 
did not occur to me till after he had gone that I had 
come so near a fatal elevation to a short term of the 
Presidency. ^ Dei avertite omen! 

"He was in high spirits, though he always speaks 
of the election as uncertain. I showed him Lincoln's 
Pledge of August, 1864, written when he thought 
McClellan might be elected. He was much impressed, 
and went on as he often does to compare Lincoln's 
great trials with what he calls his little ones. He 
asked me to read Stannard Baker's article about him 
in McClure's — which he likes. 

''October 30. The President came in for an hour. 
We talked awhile about the campaign and at last he 
said: 'It seems a cheap sort of thing to say, and I 
would not say [it] to other people, but laying aside 

^ There being no Vice-President, Mr. Hay, as Secretary of State, 
stood next in line of succession to the Presidency. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 357 

my own great personal interests and hopes, — for of 
course I desire intensely to succeed, — I have the 
greatest pride that in this fight we are not only mak- 
ing it on clearly avowed principles, but we have the 
principles and the record to avow. How can I help 
being a little proud when I contrast the men and the 
considerations by which I am attacked, and those 
by which I am defended?' 

^^ November s. The President's fall from his horse, 
ten days ago, might have been very serious. He 
landed fairly on his head, and his neck and shoulders 
were severely wrenched. For a few days there seemed 
a possibility of meningitis. But he is strong and well- 
knit, and the spine escaped injury. I am thankful 
to have escaped a four months' troubled term of the 
Presidency. Strange that twice I have come so hid- 
eously near it — once at Lenox and now with a hole- 
in-a-bridge. The President will of course outlive 
me, but he will not live to be old. 

^^ November 5. This morning, the President pub- 
lished his answer to Parker's stupid slanders.^ I was 
sorry for the necessity of it, but of course he could 
not let these blatant falsehoods go uncorrected, 
and nobody but he could give a satisfactory answer. 

I wrote a letter about it myself, but did not print 

^ At the close of the campaign Judge Alton B. Parker, the Demo- 
cratic candidate, accused President Roosevelt of employing a large 
corruption fund. 



358 JOHN HAY 

it, as I felt sure that Parker would continue to say 
Roosevelt admitted his guilt by silence. So the only 
way was to give him the lie direct — and I think the 
President did it very effectively. . . . 

"I went to see the President. He said: ' I did not 
show you my statement because I thought you might 
not approve and I did not want to be persuaded out 
of it.' He said further that he had to do it now or 
never — as whatever might be the result of the elec- 
tion, he could not refer to it afterwards. 

''November 6. The President came in this morn- 
ing radiant over the effect of his statement and 
Parker's speech, which seemed to him, as it did to me, 
a complete collapse of his accusations. He has evi- 
dently thought, for a week past, that the President 
would not answer him, and he was exulting in his 
immunity when all at once he was struck silly by 
this unexpected bolt from the blue. He has 'softly 
and silently vanished away in the midst of his bois- 
terous glee.' The Snark was a Boojum. 

"The President said he felt a repose of mind to- 
day he had never felt before. He supposed, from 
what his friends said, he should probably be elected; 
but whether successful or not, he should feel that 
he had gone through the campaign with no stain on 
his character, and that this, the only attack upon his 
honor, had been met and refuted. He was particu- 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 359 

larly gratified at the way in which he had been sup- 
ported : the other side had nothing to compare with 
the speeches of Root, and Taft, and Knox, and he 
was good enough to include me — ' though I had 
trouble enough to get you on the platform.' 

^^ November 8. I went over to the White House at 
a quarter after nine, thinking that the returns must 
have begun to come in by that time. I found the Red 
Parlor full of people, the President in the midst of 
them with his hands full of telegrams. I asked him if 
he had anything decisive as yet. He said : ' Yes, Judge 
Parker has sent his congratulations.' . . . Every- 
where the majorities are overwhelming. ... 'I am 
glad,' said Roosevelt, 'to be President in my own 
right.' 

^^ November 12. The papers this morning announce 
on the authority of the President that I am to remain 
Secretary of State for the next four years. He did it 
in a moment of emotion, — I cannot exactly see 
why, — for he has never discussed the matter seri- 
ously with me and I have never said I would stay. 
I have always deprecated the idea, saying there was 
not four years' work in me; now I shall have to go 
along awhile longer, as it would be a scandal to con- 
tradict him. . . . 

"J. B. Bishop told me to-day of the tumultuous 
dinner last night at the White House and the speech- 



360 JOHN HAY 

less amazement of John Morley at the fagonde of the 
President. He said afterwards to Bishop: 'The two 
things in America which seem to me most extra- 
ordinary are Niagara Falls and President Roosevelt.* 

"November 20. I read the President's message in 
the afternoon. . . . Made several suggestions as to 
changes and omissions. The President came in just 
as I had finished, and we went over the matters to- 
gether. He accepted my ideas with that singular 
amiability and open-mindedness which form so strik- 
ing a contrast with the general idea of his brusque 
and arbitrary character. 

** December 4. The President talked about re- 
vision. He has omitted the passage about the tariff 
from his message and rather doubts whether he can 
find enough support in Congress for attempting any 
revision at present. . . . 

"He told me to say to [Henry] White that he 
would expect the resignations of all the Ambassadors 
in the spring, as well as those of the Cabinet. . . . 
He is trying to harden his heart, in several direc- 
tions, but I doubt very much if he succeeds. 

*' December 25. The President came in out of the 
snow-storm looking as breezy as the weather. He 
had just got Choate's resignation [as Ambassador 
to Great Britain] and was charmed by the tone of 
his letter. He will leave to him the time and manner 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 361 

of his recall. He was a little annoyed at being told 

by that McKinley had promised [Whitelaw] 

Reid the place. I assured him there was nothing in 
it. People like instinctively to diminish their appa- 
rent obligations by assigning part of the load to the 
dead. . . . 

" I sent him a MS. Norse Saga of William Morris. 
He replied in a charming letter. 

"7^05. January i. The President came in at 
12.15 saying it seemed more like Easter than New 
Year's. We talked of the Bureau of American Re- 
publics without coming to any conclusion. . . . He is 
quite firm in the view that we cannot permit Japan 
to be robbed a second time of the fruits of her vic- 
tory — if victory should finally be hers. 

January 3 . Little of importance at Cabinet meet- 
ing. The President was talking of an erring chaplain, 
which reminded Morton of a Methodist who, on 
giving an account of himself on the witness stand, 
said he had been an exhorter for twenty years, but 
for only six a regular licentious preacher." 

Secretary Hay's records during the months of 
January and February are largely taken up with 
memoranda on the arbitration treaties, which the 
Senate ruined, as he and the President thought, by 
amendments; on negotiations for protecting China; 



362 JOHN HAY 

and on the closing phase of the Russo-Japanese War. 
Here is a vivid description of Mr. Roosevelt dic- 
tating : — 

' ' February 27. The President asked me to dine 
at the White House, as Root was to be there and he 
wanted to talk over Santo Domingo. After dinner 
we went to the study up-stairs and for two hours went 
over the whole business. The President sent for his 
stenographer and dictated a brief message he pro- 
poses to send to the Senate next week. It was a curi- 
ous sight. I have often seen it, and it never ceases 
to surprise me. He storms up and down the room, 
dictating in a loud and oratorical tone, often stop- 
ping, recasting a sentence, striking out and filling in, 
hospitable to every suggestion, not in the least dis- 
turbed by interruption, holding on stoutly to his 
purpose, and producing finally, out of these most 
unpromising conditions, a clear and logical state- 
ment, which he could not improve with solitude 
and leisure at his command." 

Meanwhile, Secretary Hay's health, which had 
been visibly declining for several months, showed 
such alarming symptoms that his physicians pre- 
scribed for him a complete rest from official duties, 
and treatment at Nauheim. On March 3, he sent 
the President a ring, with this note. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 363 

Hay to Roosevelt 

Washington, March 3, 1905. 

Dear Theodore — 

The hair in this ring is from the head of Abra- 
ham Lincoln. Dr. Taft cut it off the night of the 
assassination, and I got it from his son — a brief 
pedigree. 

Please wear it to-morrow ; you are one of the men 
who most thoroughly understand and appreciate 
Lincoln. 

I have had your monogram and Lincoln's engraved 

on the ring. 

Longas, O utinam, bone dux, ferlas 
Prsestes Hesperiae.^ 

Yours affectionately. 

^'Saturday, March 4. The President wrote me last 
night a charming letter of thanks for the Lincoln 
ring I gave him. He wore it to-day at his inaugura- 
tion and seemed greatly pleased to have it. 

"The weather seemed very doubtful, but after 
a slight rain in the morning it cleared off and was 
very fine at ten o'clock when we started for the Capi- 
tol. The procession was well arranged and we got 

^ Horace, Odes, iv, v: " Mayest thou. Good Captain, give long 
holiday to Hesperia!" The correct quotation is: 

Longas, O utinam, dux bone, ferias, etc. 



364 JOHN HAY 

there in about half an hour. There was very little to 
do, Congress having completed its work, and taken 
a recess for an hour, to kill time. At eleven o'clock 
there was a threatening cloud came up in the North, 
but it blew away, and when, after the inauguration 
of the Vice-President, we went out to the East 
Front, the skies were clear, though a bitter wind was 
sweeping the plaza. The President took the oath 
in a clear, resonant voice and then delivered his In- 
augural. The high wind made speaking difficult, but 
his voice lasted well — the address was short and in 
excellent temper and manner. . . . 

"The Ball was a success in numbers if nothing 
else. The President appeared once or twice in the 
Reserved Gallery — the crowd of say 10,000 stood 
patiently on the floor of the vast hall staring all the 
evening at his tribune, a pathetic and strange spec- 
tacle. 

" March 5. The President sent me a note this morn- 
ing saying he wished to see me, but that he would 
prefer I should come to him this morning, instead 
of expecting him here as usual. I went over to the 
White House and saw the reason of his action. Every 
approach was filled with a curious crowd. They 
swarmed over the porch and stood staring in the win- 
dows. As I came into his study, the President 
started up with a jar of lilies in his hand and came to 



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LETTER TO THEODORE ROOSEVELT ON THE EVE OF HIS 
INAUGURATION AS PRESIDENT 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 365 

the door to greet me — recalling Bunthorne 'Walk- 
ing down Piccadilly with a poppy or a lily in his 
medieval hand.' He said: 'You will see why I asked 
you to come over. If I had come, I should have ar- 
rived at your door with a tail like a Highland chief.' 

*' March 12. The President came this morning, 
wearing an overcoat, a garment which his hardy 
habit generally rejects. . . . 

"I tried to walk this afternoon, but it was tough 
work. By going very slowly and stopping often I 
was able to cover about a mile — but the pain does 
not pass away as it used. It continued all the way 
home." 

That last item indicates the seriousness of Mr. 
Hay's condition. The following Saturday he em- 
barked, in an almost desperate condition, on the 
Cretic for Genoa. After resting in Italy, he went to 
take the cure at Nauheim. His improvement there 
was very slow. On May 20 he wrote the President: — 

Hay to Roosevelt 

[Nauheim, May 20, 1905.] 

I hate to be in this condition of Mahomet's coffin. 
If I were fit for work, I would gladly go back to my 
desk. If I were ready for the Knacker, I would at 
once get out of the way. But when all the doctors 



366 JOHN HAY 

tell me I am going to get well, but that it will be a 
matter of some months yet, I feel that I ought not to 
be a dead weight in the boat for an indefinite time. 
... I need not say that when you think a change 
would be, for any reason, advisable, I shall go. I 
don't say willingly, but as Browning says, ''Go dis- 
piritedly, glad to finish." 

My association with you has been altogether de- 
lightful, and if there is to be any space left me for 
memory, I shall always remember it with pleasure 
and gratitude. 

Hay lived to reach home; went to Washington, 
conferred several times with the President, and on 
June 22 bade him good-bye. This proved to be 
their final parting. 

The quotations I have given serve to outline John 
Hay's portrait of Theodore Roosevelt and to record 
their memorable friendship. 



CHAPTER XXXI 

hay's last labors 

FOR convenience we group a statesman's work 
according to topics; in real life, however, there 
is no such grouping. We cannot isolate tasks which 
overlap, or go forward simultaneously. So it was 
with Secretary Hay. Long before he signed the 
treaty with the new Republic of Panama, he had 
many other issues on his hands. I pass over Hay's 
eager support of the first Hague Tribunal and of 
subsequent appeals to It, and his efforts In behalf of 
International copyright. The chief business which 
absorbed him at the end of 1903 concerned the Far 
East. 

Although constantly professing her Intention of 
evacuating Manchuria, Russia not only stayed on 
there, but menaced Korea. Japan formed, in 1902, 
a league with England which wonderfully strength- 
ened the self-reliance of the little men of Nippon. 
Early In 1903 Secretary Hay pressed upon the 
Russian Government, the need of respecting the 
Integrity of China. 

On May 12 he writes: — 



368 JOHN HAY 

To President Roosevelt 

We have the positive and categorical assurance of 
the Russian Government that the so-called "con- 
vention of seven points"^ has not been proposed by 
Russia to China. We have this assurance from Count 
Cassini here, from Mr. McCormick [American Am- 
bassador to Russia] directly from Count Lamsdorff 
in Petersburg, and through Sir Michael Herbert 
[British Ambassador at Washington] from the Rus- 
sian Ambassador in London. . . . Per co?itra, we have 
from Conger in Peking, from our Commissioners in 
Shanghai, from the Japanese Legation here, and 
from the British Embassy, substantially identical 
copies of the "convention of seven points," which 
there is no shadow of doubt the Russians have been, 
and perhaps still are, forcing upon the Government 
of China. . . . 

I have intimated to Cassini that the inevitable 
result of their present course of aggression would be 
the seizure by different Powers of different provinces 
in China, and the accomplishment of the dismember- 
ment of the empire. He shouts in reply: "This 
is already done. China is dismembered and we are 
entitled to our share." 

^ See Foreign Relations of the United States, 1903, page 54. De- 
spatch, Conger to Hay, April 29,1903. 



HAY'S LAST LABORS 369 

The next confidential letter, addressed to Mr. 
White, in London, reveals the difficulties against 
which Hay was working : — 

To Henry White 

May 22, 1903. 

The Manchurian matter is far more delicate and 
more troublesome. Russia, as you know, has given 
us the most positive assurances that the famous 
"convention of seven points" never existed. We 
have a verbatim copy of it as it was presented, with 
preamble and appendix, by Monsieur Plangon, to 
the Chinese Government. If they choose to disavow 
Plangon, and to discontinue their attempts to vio- 
late their agreements, we shall be all right; but, if 
the lie they have told was intended to serve only for 
a week or two, the situation will become a serious one. 
The Chinese, as well as the Russians, seem to know 
that the strength of our position is entirely moral, 
and if the Russians are convinced that we will not 
fight for Manchuria — as I suppose we will not — ■ 
and the Chinese are convinced that they have noth- 
ing but good to expect from us and nothing but a 
beating from Russia, the open hand will not be so 
convincing to the poor devils of Chinks as the raised 
club. Still, we must do the best we can with the 
means at our disposition. 



370 JOHN HAY 

"Our strength in Russia is, of course, not with the 
miHtary or diplomatic sections of the Government 
[Mr. Hay writes to Minister Conger in Peking], but 
with Mr. Witte and the whole financial world of 
Russia." (June 13, 1903-) 

In spite of warnings and dissuasions Russia pur- 
sued her policy, and at the beginning of 1904 she 
forced the Japanese to conclude that they must either 
accept Russian domination down to the shores of 
the Japan Sea — a domination which would soon over- 
shadow themselves — or attack the Russians before 
they had assembled their full strength. To the surprise 
of the Powers, the Japanese chose the latter course. 

Mr. Hay's Diary gives us the clue to the swiftly 
maturing events. 

''January 5, IQ04. From dispatches received 
from Tokio and from the Japanese Legation here it 
is evident that no attempt at mediation will do any 
good. Russia is clearly determined to make no con- 
cessions to Japan. They think — that is Alexieff 
and Bezobrazoff, who seem to have complete control 
of affairs — that now is the time to strike, to crush 
Japan and to eliminate her from her position of in- 
fluence in the Far East. They evidently think there 
is nothing to be feared from us — and they have 
of course secured pledges from Germany and 
France, which make them feel secure in Europe." 



HAY'S LAST LABORS 371 

" January 6. The President notices a decided change 
of opinion against Russia. Herman Ridder has told 
him he can get up a big dinner in New York of Ger- 
mans and Irish to express sympathy with Japan. 

''January g. Takahira [the Japanese Minister at 
Washington] saw, for the first time in some weeks, a 
possible gleam of light. He asked me whether it 
would seem ungracious on the part of Japan to 
desist from claiming ' foreign settlements ' in Man- 
churia — showing that this is one of the points 
Russia is insisting on. I told him that we reserved 
our treaty right to discuss the matter, but that we 
were not at present insisting on it. 

''January 11. I saw Takahira who read me sev- 
eral long dispatches from his Government. One say- 
ing they had asked strict neutrality from China, in 
the interest of China and the civilized world — and 
another giving excellent reasons why they did not 
desire the mediation of other Powers ; as they would 
inure to the advantage of Russia through endless 
delays." 

America's good offices had as little effect as had 
the counsels of European bankers and diplomats in 
averting the war. On February 8, Admiral Togo, 
commanding the Japanese fleet, made a dash on 
Port Arthur and attacked the Russians. The day 



372 JOHN HAY 

before, Secretary Hay, just returned from a trip to 
Georgia, was shown a memorandum which the Ger- 
man Ambassador, Speck von Sternburg, had pre- 
sented to the President. Read now, it proves to be 
the clue to a puzzle which mystified diplomacy then. 
It suggested that the German Emperor desired 
"that we take the initiative in calling upon the 
Powers to use good offices to induce Russia and 
Japan to respect the neutrality of China outside the 
sphere of military operations." I said I thought we 
ought to eliminate the last clause and include "the 
administrative entity of China." The President 
agreed. 

On February 8, Mr. Hay had the draft ready to 
show to the President and other persons, who 
approved of it. Among them were the German and 
Chinese envoys. The latter "was greatly pleased 
to know what we had done. So was Takahira, who 
came in and talked of the situation with profound 
emotion, which expressed itself in a moment of tears 
and sobs as he left me. Cassini [the Russian Am- 
bassador] came to my house at 2.30 and stayed an 
hour. He spent most of tlje time in accusing Japan 
of lightness and vanity ; he seemed little affected by 
the imminence of war, expecting a speedy victory, 
but admitting that the war, however it resulted, 
would profit nobody." 



HAY'S LAST LABORS 373 

From this time forward Mr. Hay received almost 
daily visits from Takahira and Cassini. The Japan- 
ese was always courteous and dignified ; the Russian 
was often fretful, peevish, and complaining, if bad 
news came, — and the news was usually bad for 
Russia, — or he was surly and overbearing to such 
a point that Mr. Hay seems more than once to have 
been on the point of showing him the door. Count 
Cassini deceived himself by thinking that the way 
to propitiate the Secretary and the American people 
was to arraign the Government for unneutrality. 
He would come to the State Department in a rage 
over some newspaper article, or some joke or cartoon, 
and once, when a Japanese Consul was reported to 
have shouted ''Banzai!'' at a public dinner in New 
York, Count Cassini could hardly refrain from mak- 
ing an international question of it. 

Appreciating how much the unexpected reverses 
must embitter him, Secretary Hay did his best to 
make allowances for the tactless Russian, but from 
the start he feared, and with reason, that Cassini 
was "in no humor to be a safe counselor to Lams- 
dorff," the Russian Foreign Minister. 

Having already had unofficial notice that England, 
France, Russia, China, and Japan would be glad to 
consider it, on February 12, Hay launched his 
circular. He took for granted Germany's adherence 



374 JOHN HAY 

because the Kaiser had made the original sugges- 
tion. " I get many inquiries as to the exact meaning 
of a note which," Hay writes, ''was properly left 
indefinite." Within ten days, the Powers chiefly 
interested agreed in substance to the American cir- 
cular. 

Three more extracts from the Diary on this matter 
must suffice: — 

''March i. Cassini came at three and stayed till 
five. His object was to hand me a memorandum 
from Russia limiting the theatre of war in Man- 
churia, which, like everything from that country 
has a 'false bottom.' He talked for an hour about 
American unfriendliness. I told him that the Japs 
were cleverer — they talked of our friendliness. 

''March 2. There is an interview with Cassini 
printed in the papers to-day containing much that 
he said to me yesterday; giving the Government 
credit for being correct, but going for the people and 
the press. Takahira also resorts to the newspapers 
to sustain the attitude of Japan. 

"March g. [The President] is determined to do 
his duty by Russia and not be swerved from strict 
neutrality by her pettishness, nor to show any un- 
friendliness to Japan by reason of it." 

Throughout the year Secretary Hay had the war 



HAY'S LAST LABORS 375 

in the Far East constantly in his mind, and the 
days were rare when he escaped a call from Mr. 
Takahira and Count Cassini. But many other per- 
plexing matters required his attention. I omit the 
later efforts of the Colombians to undo the Republic 
of Panama; nor can I detail the negotiations to pro- 
tect China. 

Early in the spring the coming Presidential cam- 
paign began to absorb the Republican Administra- 
tion. Months before, Hay foresaw that Mr. Roose- 
velt's renomination would not be disputed. At a 
time when Senator Hanna, the Republican "War- 
wick," was supposed to be casting about for a more 
pliable candidate. Hay wrote as follows to a journal- 
ist in Brooklyn, who seems to have suggested that 
Hay himself should run: — 

To W, F. G. Shanks 

November 24, 1903. 

A veteran observer, like you and me, ought never 
to shut his eyes to accomplished facts. Roosevelt is 
already nominated. Hanna knows this as well as 
the rest of us. He is not going to oppose him, and 
Roosevelt will be nominated by acclamation in the 
convention. I do not believe another name will be 
put forward in opposition. Of course, I am for 
him against all comers, if the matter were in con- 



376 JOHN HAY 

troversy; but even if it were not, and if I were a 
possibility (which I am not), no earthly considera- 
tion would induce me to accept a nomination for that 
place. When I get through with my present job I 
shall never hold another public office. 

On Secretary Root's declination, Mr. Cortelyou 
was chosen manager of the Republican campaign. 
The Democrats temporarily shook off Mr. Bryan 
and his free-silver platform, and sought another 
candidate with different issues. In spite of their hold 
on power, the Republicans felt anxious until late in 
the summer. Hay's Diary again serves to light up 
the campaign and his own attitude toward it : — 

^' April 12. In the Cabinet meeting to-day the 
President set forth at great length the difficulties 
and dangers of the campaign, as a preliminary to 
the suggestion that the welfare of the Republican 
Party in this trying hour demanded that I should 
make some speeches. The motion was seconded by 
Shaw and Moody with considerable eloquence. I 
sat mute — fearing to speak lest I should lose my 
temper. It is intolerable that they should not see 
how much more advantageous to the Administra- 
tion it is that I should stay at home to do my work 
than that I should cavort around the country 
making lean and jejune orations. 



HAY'S LAST LABORS 377 

*' April 24. The President had only been here a 
few minutes this morning when Nicholas Murray 
Butler and Joe Bishop came in. They were very 
much amused at the frantic energy with which Mr. 
Cleveland is denying that he ever showed any com- 
mon civility to a negro. They seem to think it indi- 
cated that in spite of all protestations he still desires 
the Presidential nomination." 

The Republicans, at their convention in June, 
nominated Roosevelt and Fairbanks for President 
and Vice-President. The next day Hay records: — 

''June 24. Cabinet meeting to-day. The Presi- 
dent was not specially elated — it was too clear a 
walk-over." 

On July 9 the Democrats chose Judge Alton B. 
Parker as their nominee for the Presidency. Secre- 
tary Hay wrote to Mr. Choate the following caustic 
and partisan criticism of Judge Parker's action : — 

To Joseph H. Choate 

July II, 1904. 

The conventions have met and adjourned, and I 
think we are left in an excellent position for the 
campaign. The last day of the St. Louis Convention 
was the scene of several dramatic incidents which 
the Democratic papers seem to think will be to the 
advantage of Parker. I cannot agree with them. He 



/ 



378 JOHN HAY 

held his tongue rigidly, giving no hint of his position 
on any question until the platform was made and he 
was nominated. The next morning the three most 
important opposition papers in New York — the 
Sun, the Times, and the World — had leaders furi- 
ously denouncing the platform. Upon this, Parker 
took a sudden fright, feeling that his nomination 
would be worthless if he was to lose his Eastern sup- 
port in the press, and he at once sent a telegram to 
St. Louis, saying that he was in favor of the gold 
standard, and if they did not like it they could nomi- 
nate somebody else. He knew perfectly well they 
could not nominate any one else, nor could they 
change their platform, but he accomplished his 
purpose in extorting from them permission for him 
to accept without changing his views. So they are 
now before the country, the platform by its silence 
endorsing the Bryanite view of the money question, 
and the candidate trying to save himself by a repu- 
diation of the convention — something which has 
never happened before, so far as I remember, except 
in the case of McClellan, with consequences not to be 
envied. They are all extolling to-day the boldness of 
Parker, his boldness consisting in his having held his 
tongue until he had secured the nomination, and 
then, in a blue funk over the outburst of the news- 
papers Saturday morning, repudiating the platform, 



HAY'S LAST LABORS 379 

to which his representatives had exphcitly consented. 
Yet, singularly enough, this rather pitiful perform- 
ance has helped him in public opinion. 

The next letter discloses President Roosevelt's 
willingness to accept suggestions, and, incidentally, 
it repeats Mr. Hay's opinion of the Democratic ad- 
versaries: — 

To President Roosevelt 

July 13, 1904. 

I return herewith the draft of your speech. I am 
sorry to return it almost absolutely intact. Know- 
ing how you yearn for the use of the meat-axe on 
your offspring, I always feel in default when I send 
back your drafts with no words but those of un- 
limited admiration. I really think this is one of the 
best speeches you have ever made. The first two 
pages are severe, but absolutely just and dignified, 
and the rest is history with a fine flavor of actu- 
ality. [Here follow three suggestions as to verbal 
changes.] 

We are in the world and we have got to be patient 
with our environment, but I find it hard to keep my 
temper over the falsetto shrieks of rapture of the 
Evening Post about the trick which Parker played on 
his convention. I cannot say I have much sympathy 



380 JOHN HAY 

with the Tillmans, the Williamses, and the Clarks, 
but I think Bryan has the right to go to his Nebraska 
home chanting the immortal refrain of Bret Harte : — 

"He played it that day upon Williams and me in 
a way I despise." 

And the most exasperating thing about it is that 
Parker really seems to have scored by this act of 
treachery, dictated by abject cowardice. But it is a 
good while until election and the hard-headed com- 
mon sense of the American voters "won't do a thing 
to him" in the mean time. 

In spite of his reluctance, Mr. Hay made three 
speeches during the season : at the opening of the St. 
Louis Fair; at the Semi-Centennial Celebration, 
at Jackson, Michigan, on July 6, of the birth of the 
Republican Party; and at Carnegie Hall, New York, 
on October 26. Only the last was directly political ; 
but the Jackson speech, judging by its wide circula- 
tion, was regarded by the Republican managers as 
their best campaign document. 

Hay's later addresses, carefully thought out and 
much polished, contrast in style with the sponta- 
neity of his earlier prose, and especially of his famil- 
iar letters. He writes now as one sophisticated in 
the art of writing. This does not imply that some of 
his later pieces have not much excellence. Best of 



HAY'S LAST LABORS 381 

them all is "Franklin in France" (1904) ; most popu- 
lar is the brief praise of Omar which he delivered in 
England (Decembers, 1897). For pure eulogy which 
makes no pretense at criticism his oration on Presi- 
dent McKinley might serve as a model — affection- 
ate, dignified, imputing only the best motives and 
giving full credit to every good deed. The laudation 
of the Republican Party, to which Hay attributed 
almost every beneficent act in fifty years, except 
possibly the introduction of antiseptic surgery, must 
have tickled Hay's sense of humor in the writing, as 
it surely fed the satisfaction of the thousands who 
heard it. Underneath the exuberance of encomium 
there is still an honest outline of the services of the 
party. 

Not long before election. Judge Parker publicly 
accused President Roosevelt of employing a corrup- 
tion fund to turn the votes to his side. Mr. Roose- 
velt waited for several days in silence, and then is- 
sued a crushing denial. Secretary Hay describes this 
episode in a letter to Mr. Frank H. Mason, Consul- 
General at Berlin : — 

To Frank H. Mason 

November 26, 1904. 

I am getting to be an old man, and naturally 
take a calmer view of political contests than when I 



382 JOHN HAY 

was young, but never since the early Fremont days 
have I been so absolutely certain of the justice of our 
cause and of its certain triumph. The other side had 
no programme, and, as it turned out in the last week 
of the campaign, no candidate. Their platform was 
as complete a humbug as Parker himself. The force 
of comparison could go no farther. When he emerged 
from Esopus for the whirlwind close of his campaign, 
he first insinuated his charges against the President 
half under his breath, but, receiving no reply for a 
day or two, he grew bolder and bolder, until at last 
he went roaring about that the President knew he 
was guilty and dared not answer. This was simply a 
vulgar gamble on what he assumed \yas the Presi- 
dent's sense of dignity, but when, on Saturday morn- 
ing, he got a blow square between the eyes from the 
"big stick" and was called a liar, and a malignant 
liar, and a knowing and conscious liar, we were all 
of us a little curious during the day to know what 
reply he would make Saturday night. Of course, we 
knew that his charges were absolutely false, but we 
could not regard it as possible that he had made them 
without any foundation whatever in his own mind. 
The two or three possibilities we thought of were a 
forgery, or some fool letter from some fool friend of 
the President; but, when it turned out that all the 
proofs he had of his charges were his own assertions 



HAY'S LAST LABORS 383 

made during the week, it became too ridiculous. It 
reminded one of the Hnes in the "Hunting of the 
Snark": "I have said it once; I have said it again; 
when I say it three times, it 's true." I have no doubt 
that the pitiful collapse of his campaign of mendac- 
ity cost him many, many thousands of votes. . . . 

I do not amount to much myself this fall. I do not 
know that I have any local lesion anywhere, but I 
feel a gentle flavor of mild decay which gives the con- 
tradiction — which I am too polite to give myself — 
to the President's announcement that I shall be here 
for four years to come. 

One example of Secretary Hay's success in secur- 
ing immediate attention to an ultimatum occurred in 
June, 1904, when an American citizen, Ion H. Per- 
dicaris, was seized by Raizuli, a Moroccan bandit, 
and held for a ransom. After much shilly-shallying, 
and threats by Raizuli that he would kill his prisoner 
unless the money were speedily paid, Hay cabled to 
Gummere, the American Consul at Tangier, June 
22: "We want Perdicaris alive or Raizuli dead": 
adding that "he [Gummere] was not to commit us 
about landing marines or seizing custom house." 

'^ June 23. My telegram to Gummere had an un- 
called-for success. It is curious how a concise im- 
propriety hits the public. 



384 JOHN HAY 

''June 24. Gummere telegraphs that he expects 
Perdicaris to-night. 

''June 27. Perdicaris wires his thanks." 

So speedily did even a brigand, apparently safe 
in the depths of Morocco, recognize the note of com- 
mand in the voice from overseas. 

Toward the end of this year rumors of peace kept 
cropping up. Takahira expressed anxiety lest the 
European Powers by compelling mediation should 
deprive Japan of the fruits of victory. Secretary Hay 
assured him that the American Government, while 
remaining strictly neutral, would not consent to a 
repetition of the injustice of 1894. On November 17, 
Hay received a telegram from St. Petersburg saying : 
"I am requested to inform you that the Emperor 
earnestly desires to accept the President's proposal, 
but will be prevented by existing conditions." It 
required further defeats — at the Hun River and 
Mukden on land, and in the Sea of Japan — to bring 
Russia to terms. From the Diary : — 

''1905. January 3. The air is still full of rumors 
of peace by our intervention. I gave the newspapers 
to understand that we were doing nothing and had 
no intention of interfering in a matter where our 
interference is not wanted." 

On January 5 is this still more important entry, 
in which the Kaiser's suggestion is set forth: — 



HAY'S LAST LABORS 385 

"Sternburg wires the President that he com- 
municated his views to the Emperor, who requested 
him to telegraph the President: 'He is highly grati- 
fied to hear that you firmly adhere to the policy of 
the Open Door and uphold the actual integrity of 
China, which the Emperor believes at present to be 
gravely menaced. Close observation of events has 
firmly convinced him that a powerful coalition, 
headed by France, is under formation directed 
against the integrity of China and the Open Door. 
The aim of this coalition is to convince the belliger- 
ents that peace without compensation to the neu- 
tral Powers is impossible. The formation of this 
coalition, the Emperor firmly believes, can be frus- 
trated by the following move: you should ask all 
Powers having interests in the Far East, including 
the minor ones, whether they are prepared to give a 
pledge not to demand any compensation for them- 
selves in any shape, of territory, or other compensa- 
tion in China or elsewhere, for any service rendered 
to the belligerents in the making of peace or for any 
other reason. Such a request would force the Powers 
to show their hands and any latent designs directed 
against the Open Door or integrity of China would 
immediately become apparent. Without this pledge 
the belligerents would find it impossible to obtain 
any territorial advantages without simultaneously 



386 JOHN HAY 

provoking selfish aims of the neutral brokers. In the 
opinion of the Emperor, a grant of a certain portion 
of territory to both belligerents eventually in the 
North of China is inevitable. The Open Door within 
this territory might be maintained by treaty. Ger- 
many, of course, would be then first to pledge her- 
self to this policy of disinterestedness.' 

"Sternburg then says he is also impressed with 
the danger of such demands of neutrals — asks a 
reply. 

'^January g. I found [the President] full of the 
proposition of the German Emperor. He had come 
to the same conclusion at which I had arrived the 
day before : that it would be best to take advantage 
of the Kaiser's proposition: 1st, to nail the matter 
with him, and 2nd, to ascertain the views of the 
other Powers. I went home and wrote out a letter 
for the President to send to Sternburg for the 
Emperor, expressing gratification at his assurances 
of disinterestedness and promising to sound the 
Powers. 

^'January lo. I submitted my letter to the Presi- 
dent, which he approved and sent by cable. I then 
wrote a circular for our Ambassadors, speaking of 
the apprehension entertained by some courts, which 
the President was loath to share, etc. I then re- 
peated our own attitude as to the integrity of 



HAY'S LAST LABORS 387 

China, etc., and asked for the views of the respec- 
tive Powers. 

''January 13. I sent off the 'self-denying' cir- 
cular this morning and wired Choate that we hoped 
the British Government would join, and told him to 
let Lord Lansdowne know the disposition of Ger- 
many toward it. Speck's letter, amplifying his tele- 
gram, arrived yesterday, in which he quotes the 
Kaiser as saying he is afraid of a combination be- 
tween England, France, and Russia for the spolia- 
tion of China. It is a most singular incident. If the 
Kaiser is speaking frankly, he is far less intimately 
lie with the Czar than most people have believed. 
But either way our course is clear. Our policy is not 
to demand any territorial advantage and to do what 
we can to keep China entire. 

''January 18. Choate telegraphed from London 
that Lord Lansdowne, who was at Bowood, had 
wired him 'full concurrence' in our neutral Powers 
circular. Meyer says the same thing from Italy. . . . 
The answers from England and Italy show clearly 
the extent of the Kaiser's illusion. 

"January ig. This morning a cable from Porter 
saying that the French Government fully concurs 
in our view and does not desire concession of terri- 
tory from China. That virtually finishes the series: 
America, Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy 



388 JOHN HAY 

make a body of power which nobody will think of 
gainsaying. 

''January 20. [Despatch says] that Billow has 
answered our circular of the 13th. He is gratified 
that we have resolved to take steps to maintain in- 
tegrity of China and Open Door, and at our prom- 
ise not to make territorial acquisition — which cor- 
responds entirely to attitude of German Emperor. 
Refers to Anglo-German agreement of October 14, 
1900! ! In that agreement binds itself to principle 
[of the] Open Door and therefore scarcely necessary 
to add, does not seek further acquisition of territory 
in China. 

"What the whole performance meant to the 
Kaiser it is difficult to see. But there is no possible 
doubt that we have scored for China." 

Historians can see pretty clearly now what the 
Kaiser meant. During the Russo-Japanese War, he 
feared, having become somewhat isolated from the 
other great Powers, that they were bent on cutting 
up China without giving Germany an equal chance 
at the spoils. He wished also to take the favorable 
opportunity to humiliate France, when Russia, 
being in the toils of the war in the Far East, could 
not help her ally. French intrigues in Morocco gave 
him a pretext. William H felt secure in interfering 



HAY'S LAST LABORS 389 

in the Franco-Moroccan negotiations. On June 6, 
M. Delcasse, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
was forced to resign. 

One of the last entries in John Hay's Diary reads: 

" June 7. Delcasse finally resigned yesterday. The 
Kaiser scored against France, and emphasized his 
score by making v. Bulow a Prince the same day. 
I wonder whether it was worth while. 

" February 4. [X. writes] that the King of 

asked him who was the sovereign whose anxieties 
set on foot my circular of the 13th January. He 
said he did not know. 'It could hardly have been 
Germany?' said the King with a twinkle. 

''February 11. Takahira showed me a dispatch 
from Komura,^ that the German Minister at Tokio 
had called on him to say that, as there were various 
rumors afloat, his Government wished him to say 
there was no truth in the story that Germany was 
trying to make a combination with Russia and 
France to arrange terms of peace favorable to Rus- 
sia; that they were friendly to Russia as is required 
by neighborhood; but that they had done nothing 
in the way of peace negotiations and wished to re- 
main on terms of cordial friendliness with Japan. 
Komura expressed his gratification and reciprocated 
expressions of friendliness. Takahira — and Komura, 
* Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs. 



390 JOHN HAY 

as I understood — thought this move of Germany 
was the result of our circular and the responses. 

*' February ij. Sternburg says the British Am- 
bassador in Petersburg has pointed out to Count 
Lamsdorff ^ the advantages for Russia of a speedy 
conclusion of peace. The Ambassador stated that 
Lamsdorff seemed to agree with him. Benckendorff ^ 
has had similar interview with Lansdowne.^ German 
Foreign Office believes these preliminary discussions 
have been carried on without the knowledge of the 
Czar, and are entirely confidential. They are anx- 
ious to be kept informed of Japan's attitude in rela- 
tion to peace negotiations. 

^'February 15. The President keeps warning Japan 
not to be exorbitant in her terms of peace. 

'^February 77. [The Kaiser] still insists upon the 
fact of the combination of France, England and 
Russia, to partition China. He says he was asked to 
join, but indignantly refused, and that our circular 
of January 13 gave the scheme the coup de grace. 
The only proof of the story he gives is an interview 
between Doumer and Prince Radolin. It is a strange 
incident — qui donne a penser^ 

Hay was not destined to take part in the actual 

negotiations for peace. For several months his health 

^ Russian Foreign Minister. ^ Qerman Ambassador in London. 
^ British Foreign Secretary. 



HAY'S LAST LABORS 391 

had grown visibly worse. He himself seems to have 
had a conviction that his end was not far off. He 
wrote the New York correspondent of the London 
Times: — 

To George W. Smalley 

November 22, 1904. 

As to the announcement of my remaining here the 
rest of my life — for it amounts to that — it was a 
very characteristic action of the President. He has 
always appeared to take it for granted that I was to 
stay here as long as he did, and has several times 
somewhat vehemently said so, but he has never for- 
mally asked me to remain through his next term, 
and I have never formally consented to do so. The 
announcement in the newspapers was a proceeding 
of his own, dictated by occult motives into which it 
would be hardly reverent to inquire. There is, per- 
haps, no reason why I should not stay, except weari- 
ness of body and spirit, and that seems not to be a 
sufficient reason. But how long, is a question for 
Providence and the doctors to decide. 

The business in which Mr. Hay was most directly 
concerned during his last months in Washington 
was the negotiation of a large number of arbitration 
treaties, to serve, he hoped, to lessen the likeli- 



392 JOHN HAY 

hood of war throughout the world. But these treaties 
seemed to the Senate to deprive it of its constitu- 
tional right, and accordingly the Senators opposed 
them. On February 3, Mr. Hay sets down in his 
Diary : — 

"The President spent an hour with me in the 
afternoon. He was deeply disturbed about the state 
of the treaties in the Senate, not so much at the oppo- 
sition of the Democrats as at the nerveless acquies- 
cence of our people in every attack that is made upon 
them. Knox and Spooner now take the ground that 
every separate agreement to arbitrate, under these 
treaties, must be submitted to the Senate: if this 
provision is incorporated it leaves us exactly where 
we are now." 

The opposition had its way in spite of President 
Roosevelt's robust criticisms and Secretary Hay's 
arguments. 

" February 12. The Senate yesterday, after reading 
the President's letter, adopted the amendment, and 
then ratified the treaties. The President, and, in my 
lesser degree, myself, were the object of a good many 
venomous speeches. There were several reasons for 
this action. The Clan-na-Gael had worked more ef- 
fectively than any one thought. The Southerners 
felt their repudiated debts could not trouble them 
if the amendments were carried. There was a loud 



HAY'S LAST LABORS 393 

clamor that the rights of the Senate were invaded — 
but every individual Senator felt that his precious 
privilege of casting two votes in opposition to every 
treaty must be safeguarded. And then, the Presi- 
dent's majority was too big — they wanted to teach 
him that he was n't z/." 

According to Mr. Hay, the President saw the situ- 
ation plainly enough; decided not to submit the 
treaties for the ratification of the other Powers ; and 
made up his mind to go slow in making any more 
treaties. 

"A treaty entering the Senate," Mr. Hay writes, 
"is like a bull going into the arena: no one can say 
just how or when the final blow will fall — but one 
thing is certain — it will never leave the arena 
alive." 

The last rebuff in Mr. Hay's long struggle with the 
Senate was personal. In the summer of 1904 the 
French Government wished to confer upon him its 
highest distinction — the Grand Cross of the Legion 
of Honor, "in recognition of the work done by the 
American Government during the last seven years 
in the interest of the world's peace." Mr. Hay was 
for declining, but the President urged him to accept 
out of regard for France and for the cause which 
prompted the decoration. When, however, a resolu- 
tion was moved in the Senate to authorize him to 



394 JOHN HAY 

accept, the "gray wolves" in that body, glad of an 
opportunity to vent their ill-will against the too 
unyielding Secretary, voted no. 
They struck a dying man. 



CHAPTER XXXII 

CONCLUSION 

THE portrait painter has one point of advan- 
tage over the biographer : he depicts his subject 
presumably at his best or at least at a most repre- 
sentative moment. The biographer, on the contrary, 
must follow his hero to the end ; and the end means 
in most cases the decline of powers, if not actually 
their eclipse, before death comes as a release. But it 
is not fair to allow the final decrepitude to cause us 
to forget the activity of a lifetime. So I shall speak 
very briefly of John Hay's end. 

We have followed so closely his public work during 
his last seven years that we have had little space 
in which to record his unofhcial and familiar life. 
Although, as he himself laments, he came to carry 
the air of his office into his home, yet he continued 
to enjoy, as leisure permitted, his old pleasures. 

As the cronies of his earlier days dropped off one 
by one, he clung the more eagerly to those who re- 
mained. The few intimate letters which he now 
wrote breathe his wonted affection and are often 
lighted up by flashes of his old-time wit; but refer- 
ences to his failing health occur more often, and 



396 JOHN HAY 

although he seldom speaks other than valiantly of 
his conflict with the inevitable, we detect now and 
then a note of weariness. 

The public, and even most of his associates, did 
not realize how frail he was. He still kept, from a 
sense of duty, positions which entailed fatigue. He 
was a trustee of the Western Reserve University, 
manager of the Metropolitan Club in Washington, 
a director at one time of the Western Union Tele- 
graph Company, and a member of various commis- 
sions. Almost at the end of his life he joined in 
founding the American Academy of Arts and Let- 
ters. This entry from his Diary, describing the first 
meeting of the founders of that body, deserves to be 
quoted : — 

"January 7, 1905. Went to the Century at i 
o'clock to lunch with Stedman and attend the First 
Meeting of the American Academy of Letters and 
Arts. Of the seven members elected by the vote of 
the Institute last month five were present, Sted- 
man, Saint -Gaudens, La Farge, McDowell, and 
myself. Howells is in Italy and Mark Twain was 
in bed whence any amount of telephoning failed to 
rouse him. After a long and excellent luncheon 
Stedman took the Chair as temporary presiding 
officer and R. U. Johnson was elected temporary 
Secretary. We then proceeded to elect seven new 



CONCLUSION 397 

members. Henry James was chosen unanimously: 
so was Henry Adams. Certain divergences of opinion 
then developed and we balloted for the rest. The 
result was that Charles Eliot Norton, Lounsbury of 
Yale, Quincy A. Ward were elected." 

Mr. Hay took delight in his grandchildren.^ Lit- 
tle Joan "shows gleams of intelligence. When she 
finds a caricature of me, she says — ' Grampa ' — 
to her mother in awe and shame, and tlien hides the 
paper." 

During the year before his death his portrait was 
painted by John S. Sargent; Zorn etched his head, 
giving to him the badger-like appearance which the 
admirers of that artist so greatly value; and Saint- 
Gaudens modeled his bust. Of this Hay writes: — 

** It seems to me a remarkable piece of work — 
a good likeness and yet not ugly or insignificant." 
(May II, 1904.) 

Hay usually spoke of his physiognomy with comic 
disrespect. Soon after reaching the White House he 
sent home a photograph of which he wrote: — 

October 12, 1861. 

My dear: — I send you a carte-de-visite, which 

I think is very good, all but the face, which don't 

look like anything in particular. The pantaloons,' 

^ Helen Hay married Payne Whitney, 1902. Alice Hay married 
James Wolcott Wadsworth, Jr., September 30, 1902, 



398 JOHN HAY 

however, are in the highest style of the tailor life and 
photographic art. 

I think the mug is absurd. The expression of the 
features reminds me of the desperate attempts of a 
tipsy man to look sober. But coat, trousers, and 
gloves are irreproachable.^ 

In his later life Stedman, having asked for a like- 
ness of Hay, he sent two, requesting that the other 
should be returned, as he "may never have another 
taken, having long passed the Narcissus stage." 

To a casual correspondent he wrote: " I am inter- 
ested in what you say about the resemblance to 
Lowell. Several of his most intimate friends have 
spoken of it to me, and once, when an artist was 
painting my portrait, he suddenly stopped and said, 
'This picture does not look in the least like you, but 
I have got a perfect likeness of Lowell,' and when I 
looked at the canvas I saw he was right; which only 
shows that an empty house may look from the out- 
side like one fully furnished." (To T. C. Evans, 
Cooper, New Jersey, January 2, 1900.) 

Secretary Hay had looked forward to retiring from 

office at the conclusion of President Roosevelt's 

first term. He was worn out and he felt that there 

was little hope of being stronger. But when the 

^ Century Magazine, lvi, 453. 



CONCLUSION 399 

President insisted that he should remain, he as- 
sented, wishing in spite of his condition to complete 
some of the diplomatic tasks which he was directing; 
but the defeat of his treaties in the Senate, and worries 
over the complication in Santo Domingo wore him 
down beyond his fears and were the immediate cause 
of his collapse. The real cause lay deeper; he had 
reached the end of his physical vitality. The doctors 
said that a trip to Europe would restore him, and that 
he must go at once. He waited until after the Presi- 
dent's inauguration, left the Department in charge 
of Messrs. Loomis and Adee, under the general super- 
vision of Secretary Taft, and sailed with Mrs. Hay 
and Mr. Adams from New York on the Cretic on 
March 17. During the voyage he improved a little, 
enjoyed the sight of the beautiful Azores, the brief 
stay at St. Michael's, the glimpse of Gibraltar and 
the African coast, and landed at Genoa on April 3. 
For a fortnight he went to Nervi, where a German 
specialist examined him and reported that he had 
no incurable disease of the heart. When he was 
sufficiently rested, Mr. Hay made the journey to 
Nauheim. There he put himself under the care of 
Dr. Groedel, who also held out hopes of ultimate 
recovery. During nearly two months the patient 
took the regular course of baths and diet, chafing at 
the slowness of his recuperation, and feeling pricks 



400 JOHN HAY 

of conscience at being so long absent from his work 
in the State Department. His letter to President 
Roosevelt, quoted earlier, shows his readiness to 
resign if the President but gave the hint. The in- 
sistent invitations of the Emperor William and other 
monarchs for him to visit them caused him some 
nervous strain, as he had to decline them all. King 
Leopold of Belgium, however, surprised him by ap- 
pearing unannounced at his hotel for an interview. 
Hay also received word that the University of 
Cambridge had voted to confer upon him the de- 
gree of Doctor of Laws and requested his presence.^ 
This honor too he had to forego. 

Three or four letters written by him from Nervi 
and Nauheim show, as do others which I have not 
room for here, that the old spirit of raillery and af- 
fection was still lively in him : — 

To Augustus Saint-Gaudens 

Nervi, April 12, 1905. 

It has just occurred to me that I left God's coun- 
try without saying anything of those mineral treas- 
ures of mine in your charge. Whenever you like to 
be rid of them, please send them, at my cost and 

^ He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the 
following American universities: Western Reserve, 1894; Brown, 
1897; Princeton, 1900; Dartmouth, 1901 ; Yale, 1901 ; Harvard, 1902. 



CONCLUSION 401 

risk, to the Department of State, where they will be 
taken care of. 

As the American newspapers have set forth at 
quite unnecessary length my miseries before sailing, 
I need say nothing more about them. We had a de- 
lightful voyage, summer seas, and a ship as steady 
as a church. My doctor here says there is nothing 
the matter with me except old age, the Senate, 
and two or three other mortal maladies, and so I am 
going to Nauheim to be cured of all of them. This 
involves parting with the Porcupinus Angelicus 
[Henry Adams] — and I would almost rather keep 
the diseases. He has been kindness itself — the 
Porcupine has "passed in music out of sight," and 
the Angel has been perfected in him. As Sir Walter 

sings : — 

Oh, Adams! in our hours of ease 
Rather inclined to growl and tease, 
When pain and anguish wring the brow, 
A ministering angel thou. 

To Henry Adams 

Nauheim, April 30, 1905. 

Brightest and best, drops of compassion tremble 
on my eyelids. You did have a hard time, but one 
cannot but say fallait pas qu'y aille. Why did you 
give me all of your good French money? Why did 
you leave with empty pockets when mine were 



402 JOHN HAY 

gorged with your cash? Why, when disaster came 
upon you, did you not wire me? and ad infinitum. 
But I hope this severe dispensation may be blessed 
to your permanent advantage. I was once com- 
plaining to Bret Harte of my lack of funds: "Your 
own fault," said the wise Argonaut. "Why did you 
fool away your money paying your debts?" 

. . . Spring set in the moment you turned your 
back. Birds and wild-flowers have come romping 
in. The drives to the funny little towns and villages 
are very entertaining. . . . My doctor is an austere 
Bavarian and does not mince matters. I asked why 
Rixey and Osier ^ never discovered the hole, or ra- 
ther bump, in my heart. He said: — " Perhaps they 
did not want you to know it; or perhaps they could 
not find it. There are few men in the world so sure 
of their affair as I am." 

You will tell me all about the Salon when I get 
there. Perhaps by that time I can go upstairs — 
though they forbid it here. Think of me, leaping like 
a wild goat in Nauheim from jag to jag. Yet Groedel 
says I am getting on, and tells me he has patched 
up worse machines than mine. 

With which, may Heaven grant us many happy 

y^'^- Jo El Hay. 

^ Dr. Presley M. Rixey, Surgeon-General U.S.N. : Sir William 
Osier, Anglo-American medical specialist. 



CONCLUSION 403 

To President Roosevelt 

Bad Nauheim, May 21, 1905. 
... I need not tell you with what pride and 
pleasure we all read your speech at Chicago. It has 
the true ring of conscience and authority combined — 
the voice of a man "who would not flatter Neptune 
for his trident." It is a comfort to see the most 
popular man in America telling the truth to our 
masters, the people. It requires no courage to attack 
wealth and power, but to remind the masses that 
they too are subject to the law, is something few 
public men dare to do. 

When Dr. Groedel permitted, Hay joined wife 
and Mr. Adams, who had preceded him to Paris, and 
there he spent two or three days motoring with his 
oldest friend through some of their favorite haunts. 
On June 2, having bidden good-bye to Mr. Adams, 
Hay crossed to London ; there he lived as far as pos- 
sible mcognito, denying himself even to his chosen 
friends. But as King Edward insisted on vSeeing him, 
Hay went privately to Buckingham Palace, where 
the King received him in a room on the ground 
floor, and they chatted together for half an hour. 
h luncheon with Edwin Abbey the painter, a round 
of shopping, and last calls from some of his intimates 
completed his stay in London. 



404 JOHN HAY 

On June 7 the Hays took passage from Liverpool 
on the Baltic, 

To Henry Adams 

R.M.S. Baltic, June 7, 1905. 

Thus far — sin novedad. I have had my usual and 
proper share of duck-fits and there is no reason to 
kick at the doctors. I am still following the Groedel 
regime, and holding the Robin programme in re- 
serve. I am, if anything, a little to the good since 
leaving Paris. 

I see your friend, the Kaiser, has at last taken 
the scalp of Delcasse. He will be after mine next 
— to which he is welcome. He has evidently done 
it out of sheer wantonness, to let people know there 
is a god in Israel. Characteristic, his rushing to 
Bulow's house and making him a Prince on the spot 
to advertise his score. 

Spring-Rice turned up in London yesterday. He 
says he does not think the Kaiser means or wishes 
war with France. He wants merely to insult her 
publicly by way of notifying her that if she does not 
want him to do it again, she had better make friends 
with him. 

The situation is not, as it appears, satisfactory to 
any one. France has been profoundly humiliated 
and does not care to show any resentment. England 



CONCLUSION 405 

is not inclined to sympathize with her, as she seems 
unconscious of her injury. The Bear is licking his 
own wounds and does not care what happens to the 
Cock and the Lion. It was a good time for the Kaiser 
to tread the stage in the Ercles vein. 

I do not quite see what Theodore is doing. He is 
busy — that 's of course. 

This is an enormous boat and seems comfortable. 
My cabin is big enough to give a ball in. 

Love and thanks a thousand times over for all 
your generous kindness. I hardly feel worth so much. 

During the voyage over Hay had a dream in 
which there came to him the apparition of the 
Great Companion of his youth. In his Diary he 
records: — 

^^ June 13, 1905. I dreamed last night that I was 
in Washington and that I went to the White House 
to report to the President who turned out to be Mr. 
Lincoln. He was very kind and considerate, and 
sympathetic about my illness. He said there was 
little work of importance on hand. He gave me two 
unimportant letters to answer. I was pleased that 
this slight order was within my power to obey. I 
was not in the least surprised at Lincoln's presence 
in the White House. But the whole impression of the 
dream was one of overpowering melancholy." 



4o6 JOHN HAY 

On June 15, the Hays landed In New York and 
from a snap-shot of him on the pier, we see that 
Secretary Hay, although somewhat thinner and with 
beard and hair much whitened, still had a cheerful 
expression. Mrs. Hay wished to take him at once to 
Newbury, but he felt that duty called him to Wash- 
ington, and after passing a day with his daughter, 
Mrs. Whitney, at Manhasset, he went straight to 
the State Department. For nearly a week he stayed 
on, "clearing his desk," catching up with official 
news, and conferring with the President and mem- 
bers of the Cabinet. He rejoiced to learn that Mr. 
Roosevelt was on the point of bringing about peace 
negotiations between Russia and Japan — a con- 
summation which he himself had longed to achieve 
during the last year of his active service. 

The final entry in his Diary, dated June 19, 1905, 
reads : — 

"Spent the evening at the White House. The 
President gave me an interesting account of the 
Peace Negotiations — which he undertook at the 
suggestion of Japan. He was struck with the vacil- 
lation and weakness of purpose shown by Russia; 
and was not well pleased that Japan refused to go to 
The Hague. 

"Taft came in and we talked of the Bowen- 
Loomis matter and the Chinese Exclusion. The 



CONCLUSION 407 

President is determined to put a stop to the barba- 
rous methods of the Immigration Bureau." 

Accompanied by Clarence, Secretary Hay left 
Washington on June 24, and reached Newbury the 
following afternoon. For a day or two he seemed to 
be suffering merely from the natural fatigue of his 
recent exertions. Then he grew alarmingly worse. 
There was the summoning of doctors by special 
train from Boston, and the application of every re- 
source by which medicine staves off for a few hours 
the inevitable end. A brief respite of tranquillity 
preceded the sudden forming of a blood clot. Death 
swiftly followed about three o'clock in the morning 
of July I, 1905. 

He was buried in the Lake View Cemetery, 
Cleveland.^ 

John Hay has so truly described himself in these 
volumes that the reader will expect no further sum- 
ming up. Two fragments of Hay's own self-criti- 
cism will fitly conclude this chronicle of his rare 
character and richly varied career. 

In 1902, he wrote to his brother-in-law, Mr. 
Mather: — 

"I am getting old. I have talked about it before, 

^ Mrs. Hay, who died in New York City, on April 25, 1914, is 
buried beside him, and their son, Adelbert. 



4o8 JOHN HAY 

but 'never felt it till now,' as Shy lock says. ... I 
ought not to grumble. I have reached my grand 
climacteric with no serious illness, no material bad 
luck. My dear Del is safe, with a beloved memory 
and a bright young fame. The girls are well settled, 
with excellent men, fellows of heart and conscience. 
Clarence promises an honorable and tranquil life. 
I shall not be much missed except by my wife. 

"I really believe that in all history I never read 
of a man who has had so much and such varied suc- 
cess as I have had, with so little ability and so little 
power of sustained industry. It is not a thing to be 
proud of, but it is something to be very grateful for. 

''There never could be a better time to retire." 
(August 22, 1902.) 

Almost the last entry in John Hay's Diary con- 
tains the following farewell. It is dated June 14, 
1905: — 

"I say to myself that I should not rebel at the 
thought of my life ending at this time. I have lived 
to be old, something I never expected in my youth. 
I have had many blessings, domestic happiness 
being the greatest of all. I have lived my life. I have 
had success beyond all the dreams of my boyhood. 
My name is printed in the journals of the world 
without descriptive qualification, which may, I sup- 
pose, be called fame. By mere length of service I 



I 




■>-' 4';.: •^.- X^.U.^ 



< 2 



CONCLUSION 409 

shall occupy a modest place in the history of my time. 
If I were to live several years more I should probably 
add nothing to my existing reputation; while I could 
not reasonably expect any further enjoyment of life, 
such as falls to the lot of old men in sound health. I 
know death is the common lot, and what is universal 
ought not to be deemed a misfortune ; and yet — 
instead of confronting it with dignity and philosophy, 
I cling instinctively to life and the things of life, as 
eagerly as if I had not had my chance at happiness 
and gained nearly all the great prizes." 



THE END 



INDEX 

Page references to the letters and parts of letters of John Hayprinted in these vol- 
iimes will be found under the names of his correspondents, after other references. The 
very numerous subjects touched upon in the extracts from Mr. Hay's Diaries are not 
indexed under his name except when they seem to be of special importance, or when they 
are not indexed imder their own special rubrics. 




Abbey, Edwin A., 2, 73, 74 and «., 75, 

403- 
A braham Lincoln : a History. See Nico- 

lay and Hay. 
Adams, Brooks, 2, 148, 153, 159, 178 

and n. 
Adams, Mrs. Brooks, 2, 178. 
Adams, Charles Francis, 1, 222, 280, 285, 

312; 2, 53. 
Adams, Charles Francis (11), 2, 82 and 

n., 198, 257, 336. 
Adams, Henry, H.'s friendship for, 2, 53, 
54, 58; his descent and character, 53, 
54; his autobiography (The Education 
of Henry Adams), 54, 55, 61, 171, 172, 
174, 175, 185; his salon, 55, 56; his 
description of C. King, 56, 57; prob- 
able author of Democracy, 59, 75 and 
n.; liis history of the Jefferson and 
Madison Administrations, 43 n., 58, 
83, 84; commissions Saint-Gaudens to 
design memorial to Mrs. A., 60; his 
travels after her death, 61; his hospi- 
tality in Washington, 61, 62; his soli- 
tude, 61; his circle of friends, 62,63; 
his Samoan letter, 81 ; his letter from 
Ceylon, 88; and the panic of 1893, 99 
and «.; Loubat prize awarded to, 112; 
camping trip with H. in the Yellow- 
stone, 114 #.; his visit to Normandy, 
and his Mont Saint-Michel, 127; his 
view of Cleveland's administration, 
129, 130; a "silver man," 145; on H.'s 
achievements as Ambassador, 171, 172, 
and on his appointment as Sec'y of 
State, 174, 175; remains his closest 
friend, 185; 1, 50, 251, 423,2, 133, 164, 
178, 333. 397. 399. 401, 403- Letters to, 
1, 366, 2, 38, 43; 59, 60,63, 73. 74, 76, 



77. 78, 80, 81, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 
93. 94. 97. 99. 100, loi, 102, 103, 106, 
107, 109, no, 112, 113, 114, 118, 119, 
120, 121, 122, 124, 126, 131, 141, 142, 
145, 147, 151, 152, 160, 161, 170, 173, 
232, 248, 263, 264, 267, 272, 401, 404. 

Adams, Mrs. Henry, her death, 2, 59, 60; 
Saint-Gaudens's memorial to, 60,61; 
55. 59- 

Adams, John, 2, 53. 

Adams, John Quincy, 1, 109, 2, 53. 

Adee, Alvey A., his long service in the 
State Dep't, 2, 186, 187; his unrivaled 
knowledge of diplomatic history, 187; 
an invaluable man, 187; his summary 
of the Colombian situation, 311; on a 
possible revolution in Panama, 313; 
184, 267, 399. 

Adelbert College, 1, 351 n. 

Agassiz, Louis, 1, 252. 

Aiken, William, 1, 82 n. 

Alaska boundary, determination of, re- 
ferred to Joint High Commission, 2, 
203 ff.; and to a special commission 
208 ff.; Roosevelt's notice to British 
Cabinet concerning, 20S-210; .\meri- 
can claim concerning, adopted by spe- 
cial commission, 211; American policy 
concerning, defended by H., 211; and 
the New York Sun, 235, 236; in cam- 
paign of 1900, 253. 

Alaskan boundary commission, 2, 208 n. 

Aldrich, T. B., why he failed to secure 
the Bread-Winners for the Atlantic, 2, 
8, II, 12. 

Alger, Russell A., 2, 154. 

AHens, and American Democracy, 1, 421. 

Allen, William, Gov. of Ohio, 1, 425, 426, 
433- 



412 



INDEX 



Allen, William V., 2, 226. 

AlUson, W. B., 2, 125. 

Alma-Tadema, L., 1, 408. 

Almonte, Don Juan N., and Napoleon 
III, 1, 241, 242, 243. 

Alverstone, Lord, on Alaskan boundary 
commission, 2, 208 and «., 212; sup- 
ports American claims, 211, 213. 

American Academy of Arts and Letters, 
2, 396, 397- 

American colleges, Greek letter frater- 
nities in, 1, 36. 

"American Diplomacy," H.'s address 
on, quoted, 2, 296. 

Americans in Europe, 1, 325. 

"Ancient, the," H.'s nickname for Lin- 
coln, 1, 93. 

Angell, Prof. James B., H. a student 
under, 1, 34; 46, 2, 179. 

Anglophobia, a trump card in campaign 
against McKinley in 1900, 2, 253. 

Antietam, battle of, 1, 129. 

Anti-Imperialists, and the Philippines, 2, 
198, 199; lack of harmony among, in 
1900, 256, 257. 

Arbitration, of questions between U.S. 
and Canada, embarrassment concern- 
ing, 2, 207; of Alaska boundary dis- 
pute, Roosevelt on, 209, 210; preached 
at First Hague Conference, on lines 
laid down by H., 249. 

Arbitration treaties, negotiated by H., 
amended by Senate, before ratification, 
and killed, 2, 391-393. 

Argyll, Duke of, 1, 282. 

Army of the Potomac, devotion of, to 
McClellan, 1, 120; McClellan super- 
seded by Pope in command of, 126; 
McClellan restored to command of, 
128, and again relieved, 129. 

Army of the U.S., question of choosing 
officers for, 1, 117, 118; extolled by 
Hooker, 139; Joinville's comment on. 
140. 

Arnold, Isaac N., 2, 18. 

Arnold, Matthew, how he secured an au- 
dience in Cleveland, 2, 70. 

Asquith, H. H., letter of, to H on his 
ceasing to be Ambassador, 2, 180. 

Atkinson, Edward, 2, 198. 

Atlantic Monthly, H.'s first prose contri- 
bution to, 1, 354, 355; later papers of 
H. in, 358; "Castilian Days" printed 



in, 360 and «., 365; and the Century, 

2, 8, 11; 1, 46, 71, 333, 394 and n. 
Auersperg, Count Anton, 1, 301. 
Austria, eSect of war of 1866 on, 1, 288; 

power of Catholic Church in, 304, 

305; in 1868,313. 
Austrian Court, 1, 302. 
Austrian liberals, struggles of to free 

themselves from clerical control, 1, 

304- 
Austrian nobility, H.'s opinion of, 1, 301. 
Aylesworth, A. B., 2, 208 n. 

Bacon, Augustus O., 2, 226. 

Badeau, Adam, 2, 36. . 

Baker, Edward D., 1, 122. 

Baker, Ray Stannard, 2, 356. 

Balfour, Arthur J., 2, 146 and «., 147, 

158, 204, 289. 
Baltimore, conditions in, in April, 1861, 

1, 96^.; Sixth Mass. mobbed in, 97. 
Banks, N. P., on the conditions in 1867, 

1, 262, 263; and T. Stevens, 264; on 

impeachment of Johnson, 264; 82 and 

»., 144, 265. 
Banks, Mrs. N. P., 1, 268. 
"Banty Jim," 1,356,359. 
Barney, Hiram, 1, 345, 346. 
Bamum, P. T., and M. A. Hanna, 2, 135, 

137, 139, 141- 

Barrett, Lawrence, in Yorick's Love, 1, 
398, 399. 400, 401. 

Bartlett, Francis, 2, 132. 

Bartlett, Joseph J., 1, 259, 262. 

Bassano, Due de, 1, 236. 

Bates, Edward, Attorney-General of 
U.S., 1, 191, 217 n , 2, 21. 

Bath, Marquis of, 1, 282. 

Bath and Wells, Bishop of, 1, 282. 

Bayard, T. F., 2, 113, 146, 147 and «., 
157 and n. 

Beaufort, S. C, officers' ball at, 1, 163. 

Beaupr6, Arthur M., 2, 306, 309. 

Beauregard, G. P. T., 1, 113. 

Belding, Alice, 2, 10. 

Bennett, James Gordon, 1, 181, 213, 337. 

Bering Sea fisheries, 2, 163. 

Beust, Baron, Austrian Foreign Minis- 
ter, 1, 240, 297. 

Bigelow, John, value of his service at 
Paris during the War, 1, 222, 223; H.'s 
attachment to, 223; diplomatic nego- 
tiations over Mexican question in his 



INDEX 



413 



charge, 224; 233, 234, 239, 256, 426 
and n. Letters to, 311, 2, 179. 

Bigelow, Mrs. John, 1, 223. 

Bimetallism, attempts to secure interna- 
tional agreement on, 2, 163. 

Bishop, Joseph B., 1, 453; 2, 359, 360, 
377. Letter to, 1, 374. 

Bishop, Richard M., elected Gov. of 
Ohio, 2, 4, 5. 

Bismarck, Count Otto von, 1, 256, 298, 
313, 2, 278. 

Black, Jeremiah S., 1, 247. 

Black, John C, 2, 32. 

Blaine, James G., fails of nomination in 
1876, and why, 1, 428; H. loyal to, 
428; and the Republican split in 1881, 
448; becomes Secretary of State, 448; 
nominated in 1884, 2, 128; supported 
byH., 128; why the " Plumed Knight," 
129; 74, 257. 

Blaine, Walker, 2, 131. 

Blair, Montgomery, 1, 189, 191, 203, 204, 
205, 217 »., 269. 

Bleecker, Anthony, 1, 92. 

BHss, N. W., 2, 19 and n. 

Blockade, suggested by Gen. Scott, 1, 
112. 

"Blood Seedling, the," 1, 358 and n. 

Boer War, H. sympathizes with Great 
Britain in, 2, 221; 231, 232. 

Boers, fighting qualities of, 2, 232. 

Bogota, 2, 304, 305, 306, 329. 

Booth, J. Wilkes, murders Lincoln, 1, 
219. 

Boston, in summer, 2, 79, 80. 

Boston Herald, 2, 279 «. 

Botticelli, Sandro, H.'s painting by, 2, 
81,85. 

"Boudoir Prophecies," 1, 377. 

Bourgourlou, Mount, 1, 308, 311. 

Bourke, Hon. Robert, 1, 109. 

Boutwell, George S., on conditions in 
1867, 1, 263; 265. 

Bowen, Herbert W., 2, 288, 290. 

Bowen-Loomis matter, the, 2, 406. 

Bowles, Samuel, his depreciation of Lin- 
coln, 1, 136. 

Boxer uprising in China, 2, 236-240; 
consequences of, 244 _^. 

Boxers, aim to rid China of foreigners, 
2, 236; their methods, 236/.; 284. 

Bradford, Earl of, 1, 283. 

Brandegee, Augustus, 1, 262 and n. 



Brazil, coveted by Germany, 2, 277. 

Brazilian Minister to France, 1, 241, 243 

Br ead-W inner s, The, H.'s purpose in writ- 
ing, 2, 8; offered to Aldrich for the At- 
lantic, 8; why it did not appear there, 
8, II, 12; published serially '\nCentury, 
8, 9; never pubhcly acknowledged by 
H., 9; great success of, 9; guesses as to 
authorship of, 9, 10, 11; its reception 
in England, 13 and «.; published in 
French, 13; discussed, 14, 15; the first 
important polemic in American fiction 
in defense of Property, 15. 

Brice, Calvin S., 2, 93. 

Bright, John, 1, 313. 

British troops, in the Boer War, 2, 232; 
have lost all skill in fighting, 232, 233. 

Bromley, Isaac H., 1, 334 and n., 428. 

Brooks, Noah, 1, 334 n. 

Brown, G. W., Mayor of Baltimore,!, 96. 

Brown Monthly, quoted, 1, 48. 

Brown Paper, 1, 47. 

Brown University, H. matriculates at, 
1, 22 £.; his first impressions of, 24, 
25; unsectarian by charter, but Bap- 
tist in fact, 27, 28; conditions and cur- 
riculum at, in 1855, 28, 29, 33-35; H. 
on his studies and prospects at, 30,31; 
his last days at, 48, 49; confers honor- 
ary degree on H., 49, 2, 401 ».; cen- 
tennial anniversary of, 1, 49, 50; im- 
pression made by H. on students and 
teachers at, 52. 

Browne, Charles F. See Ward, Artemus. 

Browning, Orville H., 1, 107, 264. 

Browning, Robert, 2, 366. 

Bryan, William J., his success in 1896 
prophesied by Frewen, 2, 145; H.'s 
view of prospects of, 145, 146; Repub- 
lican fear of, 148, 151, 153; his pro- 
gramme, 148; his nomination, 149; 
his extraordinary canvass causes 
alarm, 150, 151; and the Canal nego- 
tiations, 220; and the Boer War, 232; 
raises Free-Silver bogey anew in 1900, 
251; serves in Spanish War, 251; sup- 
posed to have advised confirmation of 
treaty of Paris, 251; H. on prospects 
of his election, 253, 254, 255, 256; why 
should anybody vote for? 257; 150, 
173, 178. 380. 

Bryce, James, 2, 167. 

Buccleugh, Duke of, 1, 282. 



414 



INDEX 



Buchanan, James, 1, 256. 

Buckingham and Chandos, Duke of, 1, 
283. 

Buckner, Simon B., 1, 126. 

Buel, Mr., of the Century, 2, 37. Let- 
ter to, 47. 

Buell, Don Carlos, 1, 124, 133, 2, 34. 

Billow, Count von, his functions in pro- 
moting Pan-Germanism, 2, 292; made 
German diplomacy as brutal as pos- 
sible, 292; on his dismissal, leaves 
Germany without a friend, save Aus- 
tria and Turkey, 292 ; 248, 388, 399, 404. 

Bull Run, first battle of, 1, 113; second 
battle of, 127, 128. 

Bunau-Varilla, PhiUppe, organizer of rev- 
olution in Panama, 2, 315 ff., 321; 
first envoy of new repubhc to U.S., 
317; negotiates treaty with H., 318. 

Burke, Edmund, 1, 77. 

Burlingame, E. C, 2, 68. 

Burnside, Ambrose E., 1, 132, 207, 208. 

Bushnell, Mr., Gov. of Ohio, appoints 
Hanna U.S. Senator vice Sherman, 2, 
156. 

Butler, Benjamin F., his "cheeky" let- 
ter to Lincoln, 1, 119; H.'s notes on, 
142-144; on the Jews, 142; his boast- 
fulness, 143; Grant's epitaph on his 
career, 143 ; the only man in the army 
in whom power would be dangerous, 
144; 100, loi, 157, 158, 202. 

Butler, Matthew C, 1, 430. 

Butler, Nicholas M., 2, 377. 

Butterfield, Daniel, 1, 139, 140. 

Byron, Lord, his ring used by H., to seal 
treaty, 2, 318. 

Cabinet, Lincoln underrated by, 1, 136; 

eSect on, of reading of Emancipation 

Proclamation, 138. 
Cabinet Officers and the Tenure-of-Of- 

fice bill, 1, 260, 261. 
Cairns, Lord, 1, 283. 
Calhoun, John C, 1, 76. 
Cambaceres, Due de, 1, 234, 235. 
Cambon, Jules, 2, 235. 
Cambridge University, 2, 400. 
Cameron, J. D., a "silver man," 2, 145; 

56, 90, 121, 171, 178. 
Cameron, Mrs. J. D., 2, 56, 60, 62, 84, 

90, 91, 171, 178. 
Cameron, Simon, 1, 206 and n. 



Campaign of 1872, 1, 342 /.; H. writes 
Reid on prospects of Greeley's suc- 
cess in, 343-346; of 1888, 2, 130 ff.; 
of 1894, 119; of 1896, first stirrings of, 
120; of 1904, 376, Jf. 

Campos, Marshal, 2, 126 and n. 

Canada, pending questions between 
U.S. and, referred to Joint High Com- 
mission, 2, 203 _ff. ; attitude of, regard- 
ing these questions, 206; claims of, as 
to Alaskan boundary, 209; seeks to ob- 
tain concessions in negotiations con- 
cerning Isthmian Canal, 215, 217, 
218, 223. 

Canovas del Castillo, Antonio, 1, 318. 

Canterbury, Archbishop of, 1, 282. 

Capital, and labor, relations of, as 
treated in the Bread-Winners, 2, 14. 

Carlisle, John G., 2, 142. 

Carlyle, Thomas, 1, 415. 

Carnegie, Andrew, his marriage, 2, 73, 
74; his article on "The Parting of the 
Ways," 176; and the Phihppines, 199. 
Letter to, 175. 

Carpenter, Francis B., his painting of the 
reading of the Emancipation Procla- 
mation, 1, 268. 

" Carrier's Address," etc., poem by H., 1, 
353, 354- 

Carter, James C, and the Panama ques- 
tion, 2, 324. 

Cartwright, Sir R. J., 2, 203 n. 

Cassini, Count, 2, 235, 249, 368, 372, 
373, 374, 375- 

Castelar, Emiho, H.'s interview with, 1, 
319; his oratory, 320, 321; 317, 318, 
322, 341. 

Castilian Days, the best chronicle of H.'s 
life in Spain, 1, 325, 326; printed in 
Atlantic, 360, and pubhshed in book 
form, 360, 361; reviewed, 362-365; 
H.'s preface to revised edition of, 365, 
366; as a campaign document, 367. 

Catalonia, insurrection in (1869), 1, 319. 

Cathedrals, English, 1, 412, 413. 

Catholic Church, power of, in Austria, 
1, 304, 305- 

Central America, governments of, com- 
mend first Hay-Pauncefote treaty, 2, 
224. 

Century Company, buys serial rights in 
the Lincoln history, 2, 17; publishes 
the completed work, 49. 



INDEX 



415 



Century Magazine, the Bread-Winners 
published serially in, 2, 8, 9; the Lin- 
coln history published serially in, 17; 
tempting offer of, 28; only a third of 
the history printed in, 37; H.'s criti- 
cisms of, 40; 1, 20 w., 42 «., 86, 184 ».; 
2, 25 and n., 47 »., 69, 398 n. 

Chaffee, Adna R., commands American 
relief expedition in China, 2, 240, 
284. 

Chamberlain, Joseph, his declaration of 
friendship for U.S., 2, 169 and ».; 143, 
144, 147, 209, 279. 

ChancellorsviUe, battle of, its effect on 
Hooker's reputation, 1, 138, 139. 

Chandler, Zachariah, on the pohtical 
situation, 1, 340, 341. 

Chapman, A. S., quoted on H.'s youth- 
ful characteristics, 1, 41, 42. 

Charleston, Union attack on forts in har- 
bor of, 1, 149, 150; difficulty of taking, 
by sea, 150, 151; H.'s second visit to, 
158/. 

Charlton, John, 2, 203 «. 

Chase, S. P., criticized by Greeley, 1, 
173; his presidential aspirations, 201, 
202; Lincoln's fair and judicious treat- 
ment of, 201 _ff.; on the Carpenter pic- 
ture, 268; on the decision to reinforce 
Sumter, 268, 269; addicted to coups 
de theatre, 269; on the Southern people, 
271; 138, 212, 340, 2, 33, 35, 43. 

Chase, Kate. See Sprague, Mrs. Kate 
Chase. 

Chase, Miss, 1, 340 and «. And see Hoyt, 
Mrs. Wilham. 

Chatham, Lord, 1, 77. 

Chelmsford, Lord, 1, 282. 

Chicago, great fire of, reported by H. 
for the Tribune, 1, 337 f.; World's 
Fair at, 2, 94, 95, 96. 

Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul R.R., 
stock of, 1, 347, 348. 

Chicago Inter-Ocean, projected publica- 
tion of, 1, 342, 347. 

Chicago Journal, 1, 330. 

Chicago Tribune, 1, 453. 

Chichester, Admiral, 2, 280. 

Chickamauga, battle of, 1, 200, 201. 

Chigi, Monsignor, 1, 242. 

Child, Royal B., 1, 5. 

Childs, Rev. Stephen, H. attends school 
of, 1, 19. 



China, situation in, in early 1900, 2, 231, 
234; condition of, after defeat by Ja- 
pan, 240; preyed upon by Powers, 
240; H. strives to maintain integrity 
of, 240, 241; demands for vengeance 
on, after Boxer uprising, 244 f.; H. 
seeks to avert dismemberment of, 244, 

247, 295; H.'s part in saving the Em- 
pire greater than any other statesman's, 
247; H.'s comments on affairs in, 247, 

248, 283; respect for integrity of, 
urged anew by H. upon Russia, 367; 
the "convention of seven points," 368 
f.; negotiations concerning integrity 
of, 385. And see Boxer Uprising, Open 
Door. 

China, Emperor of, 2, 247. 

China, Empress Dowager of, 2, 239. 

Chinese Exclusion, 2, 406, 407. 

Chirk Castle, 1, 409. 

Choate, Joseph H., appointed Ambassa- 
dor to Great Britain, 2, 197; dechnes to 
present American case to Alaska bound- 
ary commission, 212, 213; resigns 
British mission, 360, 361; 194, 258, 
387. Letters to, 205, 206, 218, 222, 224, 
225, 281, 377. 

Church, Sanford E., 1, 343, 344. 

Cicero, Marcus Tullius, 1, 77. 

Civil War, Lincoln quoted as to the cen- 
tral idea pervading, 1, 108; various 
opinions as to probable duration of, 
no; interference of press in conduct of, 
no. III; malign influence of poli- 
tics on military plans, in; begins in 
earnest, 114; changing population of 
Washington during, 116; question of 
choosing officers for army in, 117, 118; 
benefits resulting from. 418, 419; evils 
bequeathed by, 418, 419; episodes and 
characters of, how treated in the Lin- 
coln history, 2, 26, 28, 29, 32, 34, 35, 
36. 

Civilian troops and their officers in the 
Civil War, 1, 117, 118. 

Clan-na-Gael, 2, 392. 

Clark, Champ, 2, 380. 

Clark, Lady, 2, 99. 

Clark, Sir John, 1, 412; 2, 73 M., 75, 99, 
100. Letter to, 176. 

Clay, Cassius M., 1, 94. 

Clay, Clement C, 1, 176 n., 180. 

Clay, Henry, 1, 4, 109, 2, 129. 



4i8 



INDEX 



Disraeli, Benjamin, forces reform bill 
of 1867 on Tory party, 1, 285; 281, 
2, 257. 

Dix, Dorothea L., 1, 97. 

Dix, John A., succeeds Bigelow as Min- 
ister to France, 1, 233; his reception 
at the Tuileries, 233 f.; at the Diplo- 
matic Reception, Jan. i, 1867, 241, 
243; charges against, 255^., 261, 262; 
Seward on his history, 255, 256; ab- 
solved from the charges, 257; ground 
of Sumner's opposition to, 270; 272. 

Doolittle, James R., 1, 107 and n., 252, 
253, 254, 255, 264, 267. 

Douglas, Stephen A., Lincoln's joint 
debates with, 1, 76-78; Lincoln's su- 
periority to, 77; chosen Senator, 78; 
his character, 78, 79; his "straddle" 
on the slavery question, 78, 79; 20, 
173, 215- 

Draper, William F., 2, 194, 195, 197. 

Drayton, Colonel, 1, 160. 

Dubarry, Madame, 1, 227. 

Dudgeon, George, 2, 3. 

Du Pont, Samuel F., 1, 149, 150, 151. 

Dupplin Castle, 2, 74. 

Dupuy de Lome, Seiior, 2, 126. 

Duque, Mr., 2, 322. 

Durfee boys, the, 1, 275. 

Eames, Charles, 1, 257. 

Early, Jubal C, 1, 144 «., 218. 

Eckert, Thomas T., 1, 215. 

Edward VII, 2, 350, 351, 403. 

Election of 1876, 1, 427. 

Election of 1900, 2, 2$of. 

Eliot, Charles W., on Roosevelt, in 1902, 
2, 348; 128. 

Eliot, Lord, 1, 280, 281. 

Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, 1, 302. 

Elkins, Stephen B., 2, 225. 

Emancipation, accepted by H. as essen- 
tial to restoration of peace, 1, 150. 

Emancipation Proclamation, read to 
Cabinet, 1, 138, 191; Carpenter's 
painting of reading of, 268. 

Emerson, R. W., his "Brahma," paro- 
died by H. 1, 47; his "Days" inter- 
preted by Roosevelt, 2, 354. 

England, fight between Privilege and 
Democracy in, 1, 218; H.'s reception 
in, as Ambassador, 2, 158 f. And see 
Great Britain. 



Epigrams, by H., specimens of, 1, 381, 
382. 

Epizooty, of 1872, 1, 347 and n. 

Esterhazy, Count, 1, 302. 

Eugenie, Empress, described by H., 1, 
238, 239; H. presented to, 239; 377, 
397- 

Eulalia, Princess, 1, 366. 

Europe, change in, 1866-68, 1, 313. 

European Powers, and the Open Door 
policy, 2, 242 ff.; as land-grabbers in 
Asia and Africa, 250; general assent of, 
to H.'s circular letter of 1904, 373 f., 
and 1905, 387 f. 

Evans, T. C, letter to, 2, 398. 

Evarts, VV. M., appoints H. Asst. Sec'y 
of State, 1, 403, 434 /.; H.'s regard 
for, 436, 440; 436 »., 455, 456, 2, 23. 
Letter to, 1, 434. 

Everett, Edward, his Gettysburg ora- 
tion, 1, 206, 207. 

Fairbanks, C. W., nominated for Vice- 
Pres., 2, 377; 203 «., 204, 239, 254- 
364- 

Fairchild, Henry VV., 1, 376. 

Fairchild, Oliver, original of "Jim Blud- 
so," 1, 375, 376. 

FalstafiF, Lincoln's interest in character 
of, 1, 209. 

Fane, Juhan H. C, 1, 234, 243. 

Farnham, Mrs. Cornelia (Leonard), 1, 
4, 12. 

Farnham, John Hay, 1, 4, 5. 

Farragut, David G., 1, 173. 

Fashion, steamer of which "Jim Bludso " 
was engineer, 1, 375, 376. 

Fernandez, Mr., 2, 306. 

Fernandina, Fla., 1, 163. 

Ferri-Pisani, 1, 299. 

Fessenden, W. P., 1, 217 «., 254, 255. 

Field, David Dudley, 1, 203. 

Field, John W., 1, 260, 262. 

Field, Marshall, 2, 132, 195. 

Fields, James T., 1, 357, 360. Letter to, 
372. 

Figueras y Moracas, E., 1, 318. 

Figuerola, Seiior, 1, 318. 

Filipinos, the "benevolent assimilation" 
of, 2, 137; position of, compared with 
that of the Panamanians, 313. 

Fish, Hamilton, and the Cuban insur- 
rection, 1, 323, 324. 



INDEX 



419 



Fisher, George P., letters to, 2, 193, 323. 

Flaubert, Gustave, 1, 403, 404. 

Florida, H.'s impression of, and of the 
people, 154; H. asked to be candidate 
for Representative from, 155; H.'s 
second visit to, 161^.; H. buys land 
in, 271. 

Foraker, J. B., 2, 141 and n. 

Ford's Theatre, assassination of Lin- 
coln at, 1, 219. 

Forney, John W., at Gettysburg conse- 
cration, 1, 204 and w., 205; 213, 272. 

Forrest, Edwin, 1, 283 and n., 300, 320, 
321. 

Forster, W. E., 1, 281. 

Foster, Charles, 1, 449 and n. 

Foster, John W., on Joint High Commis- 
sion, 2, 203 «.; prepares American 
case before Alaska boundary commis- 
sion, 212. Letter to, 2, 234. 

Fox, Gustavus V., 1, 139, 215, 286. 

France, and the United States, Mexican 
question causes strained relations be- 

, tween, 1, 223 Jf.; in 1868, 313; "Rus- 
sia's harlot," 2, 234; and the Spanish- 
American War, 279; desires to confer 
Legion of Honor on H., 393; and Ger- 
many, in 1905, 404. 

Francis Joseph, Emperor, H. presented 
to, 1, 297; 223, 302, 305, 313. 

Franco-Prussian War, 1, 328. 

Frankhn, William B., 1, 127, 132. 

Frederick the Great, statue of, 2, 294. 

Free Silver, again an issue in 1900, 2, 
251; shelved by Democrats in 1904, 
376. 

Fremden Blatt, the (Vienna), 1, 296. 

Fremont, John C, 1, 119, 144, 189, 202. 

French Court, H.'s impressions of, 1. 
229, 232 /. 

French garrison in Rome, 1, 230. 

Frewen, Moreton, prophesies success of 
Bryan, 2, 145 and »., 178. 

Fuller, Mrs. S. Richard, 1, 385 n. 

Gage, Lyman J., appointed Secretary of 
Treasury by McKinley, 2, 154. 

Gammell, William, 1, 35. 

Garfield, James A., H.'s advice to, as a 
candidate, 1, 441, 442; offers H. pri- 
vate secretaryship, which he declines, 
442 f.; has difficulty in forming his 
Cabinet, 447, 448; fails to harmonize 



factions, 448; makes Blaine Sec'y of 
State, and recognizes Independents, 
448; Conkling swears vengeance 
against, 448; tries to temporize, 448; 
advised by H., 449, 450; assassination 
of, 453; his lingering illness, and death, 
454. 455; 419. 440, 2, 266. Letters to, 

1, 441, 442, 445. 448. 

Garfield, Mrs. J. A., 1, 443, 445, 447. 

Gary, E. H., 2, 353. 

George, King of Hanover, his silver wed- 
ding celebrated in Vienna, 1, 297, 
298; his violent speech, 298. 

German-Americans, and the Boer War, 

2, 231; and the Emperor's early claims 
of omnipotence, 276; courted by 
agents from home, and secretly organ- 
ized, 278; flattered by the Emperor, 
278; not entirely Prussianized in 1902, 
290, 291. 

German conspiracy against the U.S., 2, 
275/- 

German diplomacy, H. finds it most dif- 
ficult to deal with, 2, 293, 294. 

German emigrants in U.S., 2, 277. And 
see German-Americans. 

German Imperialism, changed purposes 
of, 2, 279, 280. 

German newspapers in U.S., and the 
proposed canal treaty with England, 
2, 218, 219. 

German teachers in American colleges, 
2, 278, 279. 

Germans, in U.S., and the charge of a se- 
cret alliance with England, 2, 221; 
sympathize with Boers, 221. 

Germany, effect of her sudden appear- 
ance as a "grizzly terror," 2, 172; re- 
lations of U.S. with, in 1899, 220; and 
the "Open Door," 245, 246; and Great 
Britain, 246, 248; plays a horrible prac- 
tical joke on England, 249; growing 
prosperity of, 276; needs more terri- 
tory, 276; and the British navy, 276; 
begins building a great fleet, 277; her 
colonizing views, 277; watching for a 
chance to humble the U.S., 277; ma- 
noeuvres of government of , with respect 
to German-Americans, 278; plan of 
exchange professors welcomed by, 279; 
and the Spanish-American War, 279, 
280; and Great Britain and the U.S. 
in Samoa, 280/.; methods of, in China, 



420 



INDEX 



283, 2S4; efforts of, to gain foothold 
on American continent redoubled by 
prospect of Isthmian Canal, 284; in- 
duces Great Britain to join in demand 
upon Venezuela to pay her debts, 285 
f.; severs relations with V., 286; forced 
by Roosevelt to assent to arbitration, 
2%b f.; left friendless, except for Aus- 
tria and Turkey, as the result of von 
Billow's policy, 292; H.'s attitude 
toward, charged to prejudice, 294; 
and the proposed purchase by U.S. 
of Danish West Indies, 294; suggests 
intervention of U.S. between Russia 
and Japan, 372. And see WiUiam II. 

Gerolt, Baron, 1, 145 and «., 256, 265. 

Gerolt, Baroness, 1, 145. 

Gettysburg, H.'s account of trip to, for 
consecration of Soldiers' Cemetery, 1, 
203 jf. 

Gettysburg, battle of, Meade's failure 
to follow up, 1, 192 f. 

Gettysburg Oration, the, 2, 36. 

Gibbons, James, Cardinal, 2, 351, 352. 

Gilbert and Solomon Islands, 2, 281. 

Gilder, Richard W., quoted, 1, 199; se- 
cures the Bread-W inner s for the Cen- 
tury, 2, 8; seeks other fiction from H., 
12, 13; 28, 30, 32, 39, 41, 49, 69. Let- 
ters to, 37, 38, 47, 69, 94, 274, 275. 

Gillmore, Quincy A., 1, 158, 159, i6r. 

Gilmore, J. H., quoted on curriculum at 
Brown, 1, 34, and on H.'s experiment 
with hasheesh, 47. 

Gladden, Washington, 2, 10. 

Gladstone, William E., his sentiments 
toward the North, 1, 285; his break 
with Parnell, 2, 82 and «.; retirement 
of, 109 and »., Ill; 1, 281, 409, 2, 
257- 

Gladstone, Mrs. W. E., 1, 409. 

God, and the Kaiser, 2, 276. 

Goddard, Miss Romain, 1, 268. 

Godkin, E. L., 1, 452 «., 2, 168 and n., 

257- 

Gold Democrats, in 1896, 2, 145; nomi- 
nate J. M. Palmer, 149, 150. 

Gold standard, RepubHcan Convention 
of 1896 declares in favor of, 2, 149. 

Goldbugs, the, 2, 151. 

"Golden Rule, Statesman of the," 2, 
296. 

"Golyer," 1, 368. 



Gosport Arsenal, abandoned, 1, 106. 

Gramont, Due de, 1, 296, 297. 

Grand Canon, described by H., 2, 115, 

116. 
Grant, Mrs. Fred., 2, 132. 
Grant, U. S., his Personal Memoirs, 
quoted on Butler, 1, 143; his invasion 
of Virginia, 210 jf.; Lincoln's approv- 
al of, 210; visit to headquarters of, 
217, 218; candidate for reelection, 343, 
344, 346 ».; his judgment of Lincoln, 
2, 49; 1, 126, 144, 173, 314, 323, 419, 
425, 2, 35, 36. 
Gray, George, 2, 203 n. 
Great Britain, and Cleveland's Vene- 
zuelan message, 2, 14 f.; relations of 
U.S. with, 143; H. Ambassador to, 156; 
his service in cementing friendship be- 
tween U.S. and, 162, 163; important 
questions pending betv/een U.S. and, 
163; H. strives to propitiate opinion 
in, with regard to our relations with 
Spain, 164; H. on the importance of 
friendship of, 165, 168, 202, 229; the 
only European country whose sym- 
pathies are not openly against U.S. 
(1898), 165; favors taking of Cuba by 
U.S., 166; friendly feeling for U.S. in, 
168, 169; Adams on the welding to- 
gether of U.S. and, 171, 172; and 
the proposed arbitration of Canadian 
questions, 207; Roosevelt's notice to, 
concerning Alaska boundary, 208- 
210; charge of secret alliance with, 
" had to be denied," 221, 233; friendli- 
ness of McKinley administration for, 
233, 234; hatred of, among newspa- 
pers and pohticians, 234; H. charged 
with subservience to, 234; first power 
to accede to H.'s suggestion of the 
Open Door, 242; and Germany, appar- 
ent drawing together of, in Far Eastern 
affairs, 246, 248; the dupe of Germany, 
249; rejects Senate amendments to 
first Hay-Pauncefote treaty, 258; 
further negotiations with, 258 f.; at- 
titude of, during the Spanish-Ameri- 
can War, 279, 280; and Germany and 
the U.S. in Samoa, 280/.; joins Ger- 
many in demand upon Venezuela, en- 
forced by pacific blockade, 285 ff.; 
severs relations with V., 286; her half- 
alliance with Germany not to her cred- 



INDEX 



421 



it, 289; Holleben tries to irritate Amer- 
ican people against, 293; H.'s attitude 
toward, sometimes criticized, but jus- 
tified by events, 294; and U.S., strange 
attitude of, toward each other, 335; 
formes league with Japan, 367. And 
see Clayton-Bulwer treaty, Hay- 
Pauncefote treaties. 

Great Moral Organ, name given to the 
Tribune, 1, 339 and w., 340. 

Greek letter fraternities, ran riot in 
American colleges in mid-i9th cen- 
tury, 1,36/. 

Greeley, Horace, and the Tribune, 1, 171 
f.; his character, 171, 172; his loose 
habits of reasoning, and of snap-judg- 
ments, 172; assumes to advise Lincoln, 
172, and to criticize him, 172, and his 
advisers, 173; his innumerable mis- 
judgments, 173; his correspondence 
with Lincoln on the national longing 
for peace and the terms to be offered, 
174 f-'< commissioned by Lincoln to 
bring peace " commissioners " to Wash- 
ington, 175-177; his trip to Canada and 
interviews with commissioners, 178 ^.; 
his bad faith, 181; blames Lincoln 
for failure of negotiations, 181, 182; 
dechnes invitation to Washington, 
182; his intemperate language, 182, 
183; sticks to his false statements 
after the war, 183 and «.; his Ameri- 
can Conflict, 183 «.; offered Austrian 
ministry, 311; declares H. the most 
brilliant of Tribune's editorial staff, 
334; bore H. no grudge over Niagara 
Conference, 334; Democratic and Lib- 
eral Republican candidate for Presi- 
dent in 1872, 343; his last illness and 
death, 346, 347 and «.; 331, 335, 341, 
344, 345, 346 and »., 405, 425, 429. 

Greenback craze, the, 1, 425. 

Griswold, R. W., 1,361. 

Groedel, Dr., at Nauheim, 2, 399, 401, 
402, 403, 404. 

Grow, Galusha A., 1, 98 and n., 299. 

Guernsey, Mr., editor of Harper's 
Monthly, 1, 272. 

Guerrero, Manuel A., 2, 316. 

Guiteau, C. J., murders Pres Garfield, 
1, 453- 

Gummer^, Mr., 2, 383, 384. 

Guyot, Yves, 2, 356. 



Hackett, James K., 1, 208, 209 and «. 

Haggerty, Miss, 1, 265, 268. 

Hague Conference (Firsti, H.'s instruc- 
tions to U.S. delegates to, 2, 249. 

Hale, Chandler, 2, 334. 

Hale, Eugene, 2, 74, 226. 

Hale, John P., 1, 215. 

Halevy, Ludovic, 1, 406. 

Halleck, Henry W., 1, 127, 128. 

Hamilton, Alexander, 1, 153. 

Hamilton, Schuyler, 1, 107. 

Hancock, W. S., 1, 440. 

Hanks, John, at the Ilhnois State Con- 
vention of i860, 1, 86. 

Hanks, Thomas, 1, 86. 

Hanna, Marcus A., his belief in protec- 
tion, 2, 136, 140; selects McKinley as 
its flawless champion, 136, despite 
the Republican rout of 1890 caused by 
the McKinley Bill, 137; begins to pre- 
pare for 1896 immediately after Harri- 
son's defeat, 137; raises fund to avert 
McKinley 's bankruptcy, 138; and the 
Southern delegates, 138, 139; his 
press campaign, 139; his methods, 139; 
and the issue between gold and silver, 
140; H. watches his venture, 141; 
forces McKinley to demand Sher- 
man's resignation from Senate, and 
is appointed to fill vacancy, 155, 156; 
and the doctor-consul at Nuremberg, 
190, 191; converted to Panama route, 
307; and the Repubhcan nomination in 
1904, 375; 150, 151, 153. 154, 255, 342. 
Letters to, 235, 305. 

Harcourt, Sir W. V., 2, 143, 144, 146, 
147, 150. 

Harlan, James, 1, 213, 348 and «. 

Harper and Brothers, wish to publish 
the Lincoln history, 2, 27. 

Harper's Ferry, evacuated by U.S. 
troops, 1, 95, 105. 

Harper's Monthly, 1, 272, 440. 

Harper s Weekly, 1, 354, 356, 359. 

Harris, Ira, 1, 252, 253. 

Harris, Thomas L., 1, 349 n. 

Harrison, Benj., nominated for Presi- 
dent in 1888, 2, 131, and elected. 132; 
on H.'s qualifications for high office, 
132; renominated in 1892, 133; H. 
not friendly to, 134; 1, 419, 2, 77, 125, 
333- 

Harte, Bret, prints "Plain Language 



422 



INDEX 



from Truthful James," in Overland 
Monthly, 1, 355, 356; his attack on 
Miller, 362:369, 2, 402. 

Hartranft, John F., 1, 426. 

Harvard University, confers honorary 
degrees on H. and Roosevelt (1902), 
2, 348, 401 n. 

Harvey, James E., 1, 267. 

Hasheesh, H.'s experiment with, 1, 47, 
50. 

Hassard, J. R. G., 1, 334 and »., 392. 

Hastings, Hugh, 1, 453. 

Hay, Adam, great-grandfather of H., 1,3. 

Hay, Adelbert Stone (son), at Yale, 2, 120 
and n.; accidental death of, 262; H. 
quoted concerning, 262, 263, 264, 344; 
1, 392, 393. 415, 2, 60, 63, 76, 79, 89, 
90, 98, 100, 114, 116, 258, 407 «., 408. 
Letter to, 229. 

Hay, Ahce (daughter), 2, 123,397 «. And 
see Wadsworth, Mrs. Alice (Hay). 

Hay, Augustus L., brother of H., birth 
of, 1, 13; H. quoted concerning, 14-16; 
his ambition for H., 53, 54; 5 w., 18, 
19 and n., 153- 396, 397. 

Hay, Charles, father of H., birth and edu- 
cation, 1, 4; hater of slavery, 4; prac- 
tising medicine at Salem, Ind., 4; mar- 
ries Helen Leonard, 4; published Salem 
Monitor, 5, 6; death of, 5 «.; moves to 
Warsaw, 111., 6; his practice there, 7; 
letters of, to father and mother, on 
births of first children, 11-13; his 
measurable prosperity, 16; letter of, to 
Milton Hay on H.'s future, 53-55; 
concerning the careers of his sons, 152, 
153; 22, 68, 154, 274, 333. 

Hay, Charles E., quoted concerning H., 
1, 16, 17, 18; mayor of Springfield, 
111-, 349; 5 n., 19, ISO, 151, 153, 154, 
344, 396. Letter to, 218. 
Hay, Mrs. Clara Stone, becomes rich on 
her father's death, 2, 53; and the 
death of Adelbert, 264; her death, 
407 «.; 1, 389, 392, 393, 402, 404, 406, 
408, 445, 447, 454, 2, 3, 73, 74, 76, 80, 
86, 98, 113, 122, 123, 183, 406. Let- 
ters to, 115, 116, 143, 146. 
Hay, Clarence L. (son), birth of, 2, 25; 

123, 407, 408. 
Hay, Edward L., 1, 5 n., 11, 12, 13. 
Hay, Helen (Leonard), mother of H., 
marries Charles Hay, 1, 4; death, 5 n. 



2, 92; 1, II, 22, 151, 274, 2, 24, 64, 66, 

67, 72, 81. Letters to, 1, 40 and «., 82. 
Hay, Helen (daughter), her poetic talent, 
2, 68, 69; Some Verses, pubhshed, 68; 
1, 414, 2, 89, 98, 101, 104, 105, 113, 
122, 123, 351; 397 n. And see Whit- 
ney, Mrs. Helen Hay. 
Hay, Jemima (Coulter), grandmother of 
H., 1, 3; letter of Charles Hay to, 11. 
Hay, John, grandfather of H., letters of 

Charles Hay to, 1, 11, 154; 60. 
Hay, John, grand-uncle of H., 1, 3. 
Hay, John, uncle of H., 1, 12. 
Hay, John. 

Early Years. — His cosmopolitan- 
ism, 1, 2, 3; his ancestry, 3, 4; his par- 
ents, 4, 5; birth, 5; quoted, on War- 
saw, Ind., 6, and on the life of the 
pioneers of the Middle West, 7, 8; 
grows up in anti-slavery atmosphere, 
10; his high regard and affection for 
his brother Augustus, 14-16; his first 
school-teachers, 16, 18; an imaginative 
child, 16^.; reminiscences of his broth- 
er Charles, 16-18; anecdote of the 
runaway slave, 18; described by W. 
E. Norris, 19, 20, 41, 42; at the col- 
lege at Springfield, 20, 21; successful 
in his studies, 21; matriculates at 
Brown Univ., 22, 24; his first impres- 
sions of Brown, 24, 25; admitted to 
advanced standing, 29, 33; his per- 
sonal appearance, 29; quoted as to his 
probable success in college, and as to 
his life there, 30-33; his temperament 
and personal quaUties, 33, 35, 38; as a 
student, 33, 34, 41 ; his success in mod- 
ern languages and political economy, 
34, 35; record of his standing, 35 ».; in 
Theta Delta Chi, 38-40; his reputa- 
tion as a writer, 41 ; his love of the 
beautiful in nature and elsewhere, 41, 
42; effect of residence in Providence 
upon, 43; his acquaintance and cor- 
respondence with Mrs. Whitman, 44, 
45, 57. 62; influence of Poe on his ear- 
liest poems, 45; acquaintance and cor- 
respondence with Nora Perry, 45, 46, 
50, 56, 63, 66, 69, 70; his relations with 
the literary coterie in Providence, 46; 
and Professor Angell, 46; his literary 
activities at Brown, 46, 47; his ex- 
periment with hasheesh, 47; chosen 



INDEX 



423 



Class Poet, 47, 48, 49; happily remem- 
bered at Brown, 48; his last months 
there, 48, 49, 50; regrets Providence, 
50, 53. 55. 56, 58. 62 /.; returns to 
Warsaw, a young man who believed 
that he had discovered his mission, 50; 
his hterary ambition, 50, 51 ; his father 
quoted concerning his future, 53-55; 
his long period of melancholy, 55 ; con- 
trasts Providence and the West, 56, 
57; his poetical aspirations, 57, 64, 65, 
67; his progress in the law, 58, 59; his 
first lecture, 59, 60; his piims friends 
convinced of his vocation for the pul- 
pit, 59, 60; his shy fastidiousness, 62; 
his disenchantment with the world, 
62 f., 66; sends poems to Mrs. Whit- 
man, 64; abandons his dream of being 
a poet, 67, 68; enters Milton Hay's 
law ofBce, in Springfield, 111., 68, 69, 
74; looks forward to a possible hter- 
ary career, 68, 69; talks of early death, 
69, 70; still sighing for the past, 70, 71; 
his state of mind dissected, 72; his de- 
votion to the old life never wavered 
in the new, 73; his surroundings in 
Springfield, 74, 75; his early contact 
with Lincoln, 80; effect of casual asso- 
ciation with Lincoln and others, 80, 
81; joins newly formed Republican 
Party, 82, 83; admitted to the bar, 
83; as he appeared to his associates, 
83; a general favorite, 84; "the girls 
dehghted in him," 84; specimens of 
his fun, 85; sees Warsaw with a kind- 
lier eye, 85; keerdy interested in cam- 
paign of i860, 86, assists Nicolay as 
secretary for Lincoln in the campaign, 
87; appointed assistant private secre- 
tary to Lincoln after the election, 87, 
88; his personal qualities peculiarly 
adapted to the position, 88, 117. 

Private Secretary to Lincoln. — Be- 
ginnings of his fife in Washington, 90, 
91; reports Mrs. Lander's warning to 
Lincoln of murder plot, 93, 94, 95; 
what his Diary might have been, 94, 
137; on the situation in Baltimore, 96, 
99; protection of Lincoln and the 
White House his special care, 97; on 
the Mass. troops, 98; on General Spin- 
ner's zeal, 99; on the arrival of troops 
from New York, etc., 100; on Gover- 



nor Sprague, lor; on C. Schurz, loi, 
102, 103; on J. H. Lane, 102; Schurz 
casts a spell over, 103, 104; is domi- 
nated by Lincoln from the outset, 104; 
impressed by Lincoln's great quali- 
ties, 104, 105; his familiar names for 
Lincoln, 105; makes merry over his 
oddities, 105; the burden of his work 
becomes oppressive, 109; his views on 
the inseparableness of politics and 
war, III, 112; responds to the stimu- 
lation that comes with action in a su- 
preme cause, 115; is under the spell of 
the Deed, 115; his gift of keen and en- 
lightened curiosity, 115, 116; watches 
the unfolding of the world-drama, 
117; influences Lincoln's decisions, 
117; his work redoubled after Bull 
Run, 117; his early references to Mc- 
Clellan prepare us for his failure, 120, 
121, 122; on McClellan's "unparal- 
leled insolence," 124; notes to Nico- 
lay touching McClellan, 125, 126; 
reports Lincoln's remarks on McClel- 
lan's conduct in regard to Pope, 127, 
128, 129, 191, and Stanton's condem- 
nation of it, 128; Lincoln tells him of 
the Wood-McClellan intrigue, 129- 
132; his last reference to McClellan, 
133, 134, 216, 217; value of his memo- 
randa on McClellan, 135, 136, 137; 
did not turn cynic, 137; his trust in 
human nature fortified by hving close 
to Lincoln, 137; favorably disposed 
to Hooker, 139, 140; on B. F. Butler, 
142, 143; thinks him the only man in 
the army in whom power would be 
dangerous, 144; his close friendship 
with Nicolay, 144; note? on his work, 
145; troubled with chills and fever, 
145, 146; writes for the Washington 
Chronicle, 146; at Brown Commence- 
ment (1863), 146; on the dullness of 
Washington, 146, 147; on the joy of 
asking favors from Stanton, 147; 
alone in the "White pest-house," 147; 
goes to So. Carolina, 149; volunteer 
aide to Gen. Hunter, 149, 150; his 
view of Secessionists, 150; accepts 
Lincoln's plan of emancipation, 150; 
result of his mission, 150; on the at- 
tack on Charleston forts, 150, 151; 
his father quoted on his attained posi- 



424 



INDEX 



tion, 152, 153; in Florida, 154; on 
the beauties of Stone River, 154; re- 
turns to Washington, 155; invited to 
run for Representative from Florida, 
155, 156; goes South again, to explain 
Lincoln's amnesty scheme to prison- 
ers of war, 156 Jf.; at Point Lookout, 
156; receives commission as Asst. 
Adjutant-Gen., 158; about Charles- 
ton, 158, 159; big-gun fire at Fort 
Wagner described, 159-161; interviews 
prisoners at Jacksonville, 161; de- 
scribes a household there, 162, 163, and 
an officers' ball al Beaufort, S.C., 163; 
farther South, 163^.; pen-pictures from 
his Diary, of scenery about Key West, 
163-166; returns to Washington and 
reports to Lincoln, 167; goes to St. 
Louis, in the matter of Knights of the 
Golden Circle, 168-170; sent to New 
York with letter to Greeley, 176, 177; 
goes to Niagara, in matter of Greeley's 
negotiation with Confederate commis- 
sioners, 179-181; tells of the Greeley 
episode in his history, 183 and n.; ac- 
quits himself well on all his missions, 
183; influence on him of his daily com- 
panionship with Lincoln, 184; his ar- 
ticle on the daily routine of life in the 
White House, 184-188; quoted, on 
Lincoln's influence on operations of 
McClellan's campaign, 188, 189; de- 
scribes reading of Emancipation Proc- 
lamation to Cabinet, 191 ; on Meade's 
failure to pursue Lee after Antietam, 
192 Jf.; takes part in decisions on 
court martials, 195 ; on Lincoln's eager- 
ness to avoid the death penalty, 196, 
his extraordinary activity, 197, and his 
unconventional ways, 198, 199; Gilder 
quoted on Lincoln's one compensa- 
tion, 199; approves Lincoln's keeping 
his finger in the military pie, 199, and 
his letter to the lUinois Convention, 
200; reports to Lincoln on Chase's 
manoeuvres to obtain Republican 
nomination, 201, 202, 203; describes 
consecration of Soldiers' Cemetery at 
Gettysburg, 203 ff.; complimented by 
Forney, 204; on Everett's oration, 
and Lincoln's remarks, 206, 207; on 
Hackett as FalstafI, 209; tue first 
record of one of Lincoln's famous 



sayings, 209; acts as guide to persons 
of importance, 210; impressions of 
Grant, 211; uneasy as to Lincoln's 
reelection, 212, 213, 214; on J. G. 
Bennett, 213; Lincoln reads extracts 
from Nasby, 214; election-day even- 
ing at the White House, 215, 216; 
at Grant's, headquarters, 217 218; 
appointed Secretary of Legation at 
Paris, 218, 221 ; agrees to stay a few 
months longer with Lincoln, 218, 219; 
the assassination and death of Lin- 
coln, 219, 220; his War Diary quoted, 
92-96 passim, 99-103 passim, 106, 107, 
118, 119, 122-125 passim, 127, 128, 
129-134, 137, 139-144 passim, 156, 157, 
159-165 passim, 177, 179-181 passim, 
188-196 passim, 200-220 passim. 

The Roving Diplomat. — Results of 
his experience during the War upon 
his character and mentality, 221; his 
fortune still unmade, 221; reaches 
Paris early in summer of 1865, 222; 
T. Weed on, 222; his relations with 
and sentiment for John Bigelow, 223; 
occupied chiefly with social hfe, 224; 
perfects himself in French, and writes 
some poetry, 224; his dream of a Gold- 
en Age of Freedom, 225; his opinion of 
Napoleon III expressed in "Sunrise on 
the Place de la Concorde," and "The 
Sphinx," 226-229; believes in Democ- 
racy as the cure for all political evils, 
229; keeps his convictions to himself, 
229; enjoys the elegance of the Imperial 
Court, 229; his conversation with Dr. 
Smith on the position of the Papacy, 
230 ff. ; on the Emperor's sour temper, 
232; describes an Imperial reception at 
the Tuileries, 233 Jf.; on the color- 
scheme in ceremonial occasions in 
France, 235; his portrait of the Emper- 
or, 235, 236, 237; presented to the Em- 
peror, 237, 238; his description of the 
Empress Eugenie, 238, 239; his term of 
office expires with Bigelow's resigna- 
tion, 239, 240; quoted as to his future, 
240; his final view of the Emperor, 240 
jf. ; returns to U.S. in January, 1867, a 
man of the world, but an unalloyed 
American and more zealous believer 
in a Republic, 243, 244; his return to 
Washington, 246, 247; conversation 



INDEX 



425 



with Seward, 247, 250, 251 ; on Seward's 
attempt to protect Liacoln's appointees, 
248, 249, 266; hears divers comments on 
Pres. Johnson, 251, 252; Seward talks 
of making him a minister, 252; political 
conversation at Seward's, 252 f. ; com- 
ments on attitude of Conservative Re- 
publicans (1867), 25s; his optimism, 
256; on the White House, and its visi- 
tors, under Johnson, 257; declines to 
act as Seward's private secretary, 258; 
suggested to Johnson by Seward as 
Minister to Sweden, 258; the sugges- 
tion turned down, 259; his reason for 
declining Seward's offer, 259; on Sum- 
ner, 260; political talk at Sumner's 
house, 260^.; his impression of Sumner, 
261, 267, 270; on the bill for military 
government of Rebel states, 262, 263; 
"there never was an army that could 
be trusted," 263; at the President's 
reception, 263; on Banks, 264, and 
H. J. Raymond, 264, 265; on Gen. 
Sheridan, 264, 265; on the intolerance 
of Republican majority in House, 265; 
on Boutwell, 265; advises Sumner to 
write a histor>' of the time, 266, 267; 
always a favorite with women. 268; at 
Mrs. Sprague's ball, 268; conversation 
with Chief Justice Chase on relative 
importance of the manner in which 
great events are accomplished, 268, 269; 
optimist, but not fatalist, 269; casts 
about for occupation, 271 ; on the prop- 
er treatment of Southerners, 271; dis- 
cusses business projects in New York, 
272; Weed suggests editorship of Com- 
mercial Bulletin, 272; his gratitude to 
Seward, 273; returns to Warsaw, 273, 
274; his life there, March to June, 1867, 
274-278; first suggestion of biography 
of Lincoln in conjunction with Nicolay, 
275; a " landscapist in words," 277; in- 
clined to try to Uve by hterature, 278; 
is appointed Secretary of Legation of 
Vienna, 278, 279; talks with Lincoln's 
cousin Robert, 279; in London en route 
to Vienna, 280, 281; visits Houses of 
Parhament, 280-283; on political condi- 
tions in England, 281, 285; on parUa- 
mentary oratory, 281; on certain as- 
pects of hfe in London, 283, 284; on 
Motley's soreness over his treatment, 



284, 285; arrives at Vienna, 286; his 
zest for sight-seeing, 286; "the great 
luxury is music," 286; on Church fes- 
tivals, 287, 288; studies relations be- 
tween Austria and Hungary-, 288; how 
he spent his leisure, 289; his pleasure in 
art galleries, 289, 290; on Rubens's por- 
trait of his wife, 289-291 ; his sketches 
of street scenes, 291 /.; the Viennese 
Ghetto, 292-295 ; his idea of the Hebrew 
revolutionized, 294; on the upperclasses 
of society, 296; a ball at the Imperial 
Palace, 297, 298; describes Francis 
Joseph, 297; on the exiled King of Han- 
over, 297, 298; received by Plon- 
Pion, 299; on plays and players, 300; 
sees Schlegel's version of King Lear, 
300, 301; his opinion of the Austrian 
nobility, 301, 302; a glimpse of the 
Court, 302 ; his official despatches, 302- 
304; on the wealth and power of the 
Church, 304, 305; visits Poland and 
Turkey, 305 f. ; character of his notes of 
travel, 306; the dervishes, 307, 308, 309; 
describes the view of Constantinople 
from the Golden Horn, 309, 310; resigns 
post at Vienna, 311; his service there 
described in letter to Bigelow, 312; on 
political conditions in Europe, 313; 
never a professed office-seeker, 314; 
takes up literary work, 315; lectures on 
"The Progress of Democracy in Eu- 
rope," 315; appointed Secretary of Le- 
gation at Madrid, 316; much of his time 
consumed by duties of his office, 316; 
watches the political crisis in Spain, 317 
f.; describes a debate in the Cortes, 3 18, 
319; on Castelar, 319, 320, 321 ; on Sa- 
gasta, Silvela, and Prim, 321, 322; fa- 
vors interference of U.S. in behalf of 
Cuban independence, 323; despairs of 
Cuba's fate, 324; obser\'ations on serv- 
ants of various nationalities, 324; his 
Castilian Days the best chronicle of his 
life in Spain, 325, 326, 357, 362-366, 
367; resigns, 326; describes trip to To- 
ledo in letter to Miss Loring. 327; does 
not regret his Spanish experience, 328; 
his Diary quoted, 246-272 passim, 276- 
286 passim, 289-291, 291-295, 296- 
302 passim, 304-309 passim, 315, 318- 
322 passim, 324, 325. 

Journalism, Literature, and Politics. 



426 



INDEX 



— To make a living his first concern, 
329; his talents not of the money-mak- 
ing sort, 329; his fastidiousness, 330; 
his dignity, 330; meets W. Reid, 330, 
and writes a leader for the Tribune, 331 ; 
is invited to join the Tribune staff, 331; 
again in Warsaw, 332^.; accepts Reid's 
offer, 333; Greeley's high opinion of 
him, 334; his work on the Tribune, 334 
f., 341, 342; reports Chicago fire, 337- 
339; on the political situation in sum- 
mer of 1872, 343 X; on Mr. and Mrs. 
Laurence Oliphant, 349, 350; becomes 
engaged to Miss Stone, 350, 351; his 
marriage (1874), 352; leaves the Trib- 
une, and removes to Cleveland, 352; 
character of his early poems, 353 ff.; 
"Little Breeches" and "Jim Bludso," 
355, 356, 358, 3.59, 368, 369, 370, 371 
and «., 372, 373, 375, 376; other Pike 
County Ballads, 356, 360, 367, 368, 374; 
on his other literary efforts, 358, 359, 
360 and «., 361, 362 /., 376, 377, 378; 
characteristics of his poems, 378, 379; 
his "Lagrimas," 380; his epigrams, 381, 
382; his genius for friendship, 383^.; 
as a letter-writer, 384; his "mental 
photograph, "3 85; life in Cleveland, 386 
ff< 389 Jf-', first acquaintance with How- 
ells, 387; has trouble with eyes, 388; 
on Hayes's candidacy for Governor of 
Ohio, 391 ; on the Tribune, 392, 396; his 
growing family, 392, 393; on the Atlan- 
tic, 394; on H. James's The American, 
394; his health impaired, 395; on his 
brother Leonard, 396; in Europe (1878), 
397,402; onL. Barrett's acting of How- 
ells's Fom/fe, 398, 399-401; on W. W. 
Phelps, 399; on Howells's Lady of the 
Aroostook, 402; appointed Ass't Sec. 
of State under Evarts, 403, 434-436; 
on Flaubert, 403, 404; is asked by Reid 
to edit Tribune during his honeymoon, 
and accepts, 405, 450; in Europe (1882- 
83), 407^.; his friendships in England, 
407; at Hawarden and Chirk Castle, 
409; takes "douche-bath" treatment 
at Cannes, 410, 413; on Henry James 
and his treatment in America, 411; on 
patriotism and taste, 411; his itinerary 
in Great Britain, 412; a debauch of ca- 
thedrals, 412, 413; disclaims authorship 
of Democracy, 413; on political con- 



ditions in France, 414; on his father- 
in-law's health, 415; thinks H. James's 
" Daudet " over-generous, 416, 417; con- 
tinues a Republican after the posl-Civil- 
War metamorphosis of the party, and 
why, 422, 423; his suspicion of the Dem- 
ocratic Party enduring, 423; his vote 
for Tilden for Gov. of New York his 
only aberration, 423, 429; favors Lib- 
eral Republican movement of 1 872 until 
Democrats nominated Greeley, 425; 
not moved from his Republicanism by 
scandals of Grant's second term, 425; 
on the Greenback craze, etc., 425 ff.; 
his attitude in 1876, 427 ff.; loyal to 
Blaine, but supports Hayes after B.'s 
defeat, 428; on Tilden, 428, 429; his ex- 
pectations of Hayes, 429, 430; on the 
Tribune and Conkling, 430; his regard 
for Hayes, 431; as a political speaker, 
431, 432, 433; on the Ohio election 
(1879), 433; results of his experience as 
Ass't Sec. of State, 436; thinks of run- 
ning for Congress, 436-438; why he 
abandoned the idea, 437, 438, 440; his 
lack of Congressional experience to be 
regretted, 438; supports Garfield in 
1880, 440; acts as adviser to G. during 
campaign and after, 441 ff., 448-450; 
decHnes to be his private secretary, 442- 
446; dilEculties of his task as editor of 
Tribune, 450, 451; his conduct of that 
post, 451 ff.; the Tribune " suits every- 
body but the ungodly," 453; retires 
from the editorship, 455; his standing 
in the party, 456; would like a second- 
class mission, 456; takes charge of Mr. 
Stone's financial affairs, 2, i; on the 
labor troubles of 1877, 2-4,6; on polit- 
ical conditions in Ohio, 4, 5 ; his opin- 
ions affected by the riots, of 1877, 
6ff.; what of the future of Democracy? 
7; his views on the subject of the 
sacredness of property embodied in the 
Bread-Winners, 8 ff.; negotiations for 
its publication in the Atlantic, 8, 11, 
12; clings to anonymity, 8, 9; annoy- 
ances of anonymity, 11; Gilder desires 
more fiction from him, 12, 13; the novel 
an argument for his views of the rights 
of capital, 14, 15; from the outset of 
his secretaryship to Lincoln, begins 
collection of material for a possible his- 



INDEX 



427 



tory of the Administration, 16; R. T. 
Lincoln's MSS. placed at his disposal, 
16, 17; continues to collect material, 17, 
18 f.; division of labor between him 
and Nicolay, 17; negotiates for the 
publication, 17, 28, 29; extracts from 
his letters to Nicolay and R. T. Lin- 
coln, showing the progress of the work, 
18 Jf.; on the Comte de Paris' History 
of the War, 18, 26, 29; his work delayed 
by partial blindness, 19; on the impor- 
tance of G. Welles's diary, 21,22; inter- 
ruptions in the work, 23, 24; on the 
spirit in which the work is being done, 
25; on the method of treatment of dif- 
ferent topics, 26, 27; constant need of 
compromise between his theory of the 
work and Nicolay's, 27, 28; his creed 
as a historian set forth in letter to 
Nicolay, 30 ff.; on the Fitz-John Porter 
case, 31, 32; thinks that Lee should be 
shot, 32, and that Stonewall Jackson 
was ''a howling crank," 32; on Nico- 
lay's abridged life of Lincoln, 32; what 
the history should be, 33; a Lincoln man 
all through, 33, 34; the endlessness of 
the task, 34 Jf.; disagreements with 
editors of the Century, 37, 40, 41; on 
points of style, 37, 38; on the serial pub- 
lication of the historj', 38-40; on the 
process of collaboration, 41, 42; longs 
to be through with the history, 42, 43; 
the long task draws to a close, 45, 46, 48, 
49; onHowells's study of Lincoln, based 
on the history, 46, 47; the work a tour 
de force of compression, 47 ; writes on 
"Life at the White House in Lincoln's 
Time," 47, 48; with Nicolay, edits 
Lincoln's letters and speeches, 49; dif- 
ficulty of distinguishing his part of the 
work from Nicolay's, 50. 

The quality of casualness in his life, 
52; frequent misconception of his char- 
acter, 52, 53; rich in right of his wife 
after Mr. Stone's death, 53; builds in 
Washington, 53; his friendship with 
Henry Adam? and C. King, 53, 56, 57, 
58, 72; the " Five of Hearts," 58; au- 
thorship of Democracy sometimes, but 
erroneously, ascribed to him, 58, 59; on 
Mrs. Adams's death, 59, 60; on St. Gau- 
dens's memorial to her, 60, 61 ; the back- 
ground and vital elements of his life, 62 ; 



his appetite for society satisfied, 62; 
his children fdl a large place in his life, 
63; Mrs. Whitney's and Mrs. Wads- 
worth's memories of him, 64-67; his 
poem, "The House Beautiful," 67; de- 
lights in Helen's poetic talent, 68; him- 
self occasionally "drops into poetry," 
68, 69; his poems collected and pub- 
lished, 69; his benefactions, 70; how he 
swelled Matthew Arnold's audience, 
70; his use of his means, 70, 71; his 
friendships most precious to him, 71; 
his life in Washington completes his 
preparation for the crowning events of 
his career, 71 ; the routine of his life, 72; 
makes frequent visits to P^urope, 72, 73; 
letters to Henry Adams, 73 jj.\ on the 
prospects of a summer at Newbury, 77, 
78, 79; on Boston in summer, 79; pleas- 
antly disappointed in Newbury, 80; on 
his Botticelli, 81, 85; on Adams's Sa- 
moan experiences, 81 ; on political con- 
ditions in 1890, 81, 82; misses Adams, 
83, 85; on Daudet's Port Tarascon, 86; 
on the Paris salons, 87, no; on the elec- 
tion of Cleveland (1892), 91; on his 
mother's death, 92 ; jokes Adams on his 
politics, 90, 91, 92, 93, 102, 112, 120, 
125, 145, 148, 153; is greatly impressed 
by the World's Fair of 1893, 94-96; in 
Europe, 1893-94, 97 ff.\ on English 
and American railways, 98; on tlie 
panic of 1893, 99. 102; at Tillypronie, 
99; ill-health, 101; on Sardou's Mme. 
Sans Glnc, 103; hears mass for Victor 
Emmanuel, 104; presented at the Eng- 
lish Court, 106; Rome a hopeless job, 
108; on the Yankee colony in Rome and 
the change of Ambassadors, 108; on 
himself as a subject of correspondence, 
in; on Lord Rosebery's throwing over 
of Home Rule, in; on Coxey's army, 
112; on the ball at Buckingham Palace, 
113; on Bayard's oratory, 113; not a 
sportsman, 114; his Yellowstone trip 
with Adams, described in letters to 
Mrs. Hay, 115 /.; on the "gabby" 
campaign of 1894 in Cleveland, 119; 
on J., the classic demagogue, 1 19; on the 
Republican party in 1895, 120, 121; his 
vegetable life in Newbury, 123; his im- 
paired eyesight, 123; on the decline of 
the silver craze, 125, 126; on the Cuban 



428 



INDEX 



insurrection, 126; on Kipling's intense 
intellectual life, 126, 127; supports 
Blaine in 1884, 128; regards Cleveland 
administration with critical eye, 129; 
still distrustful of the best Democrats, 
129; advises nomination of Sherman in 
1888, 131 ; describes Convention of 1888, 
131 ; his name suggested to Harrison for 
great ofSce, and Harrison's reply, 132; 
his feeling as to Republican nomination 
of 1892, 133, 134; not friendly to Harri- 
son, 134; on the result of the election, 
134. 135; contributes to McKinley's 
"ransom," 138; watches Haima's Mc- 
Kinley campaign, 141; on McKin- 
ley's prospect of nomination, 141; on 
Cleveland's Venezuelan message, 142; 
spends summer of 1896 in Europe, 142; 
campaigns for McKiniey in England, 
143, 144; urges settlement of Venezue- 
lan dispute, 146, 147, 150; on Bryan's 
chances of election and Republican ap- 
prehension, 145, 146, 148, 149, 150, 151, 
152, 153; hears debate in House of 
Commons, 146; on dying for McKiniey, 
152; takes stump for the ticket, 152, 
153; confers with McKiniey, 153, 154; 
on the rumors of his appointment to 
English mission, 155; is appointed by 
McKiniey immediately on his inaugu- 
ration, 156; his appointment well re- 
ceived by the country, 156. 

A mhassador to Great Britain. — His 
qualifications for the post, 157; arrival 
in England, 158, 159; declines many in- 
vitations to appear in public, 159; his 
first public appearance, 160; on the 
Queen's Diamond Jubilee, 160; on the 
popularity of the Queen and Prince, 
161 ; on W. Reid as special ambassador, 
161; his work as Ambassador, 163; its 
first phase cements friendship between 
Great Britain and U.S., strained by 
Venezuelan message, 162 ff.; his unsur- 
passed personal influence, how secured, 
163; important questions pending, 163, 
164; the "personal effects" clause of 
the Dingley bill, 164; labors to pro- 
pitiate English opinion in respect to 
our troubles with Spain, 164 J".; on the 
importance of English friendship, 165, 
168. 169, 171 ; on the favorable trend of 
English sentiment, 165, 166, 168, 169; 



on Dewey's victory at Manila, 167, 168; 
McKiniey no tenderfoot, 167 ; thinks 
popular opinion of McK. to be chang- 
ing, 168 ; on the forthcoming treaty 
with Spain, 170; thinks the Bryan spec- 
tre laid, 173; on the resignation of Sher- 
man as Secretary of State, and appoint- 
ment of W. R. Day, 173; offered the 
portfolio of State by McKiniey, 173; 
Adams's account of discussionsas to his 
acceptance, 174, 175; accepts, 175; his 
leave-taking of friends in England, 175 
f.; farewell audience of the Queen, 176; 
letters of regret from Lord Salisbury, 
Lord Rosebery, and H. H. Asquith, 
1 79-181; Queen Victoria's apprecia- 
tion, 181; his ambassadorship next in 
importance to that of C. F. Adams, 182; 
what his experience in London taught 
him, especially with regard to Germany, 
182; his gloomy forebodings, 183. 

Secretary of State. — Falls quickly 
into routine of ofBce, 184; effect of the 
increasing burden of work, 184; his few 
deep friendships unshaken, 184, 185; 
Adams remains his closest friend, 185; 
their relations described by A., 185; 
many important matters awaiting his 
attention, 186; his health suffers under 
the strain, 186; his reliance on Adee and 
H. White, 186^.; annoyed by rapacity 
of office-seekers, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 
193, and by requests for favors of divers 
sorts, 190, 191 ; on the succession to the 
English mission, 193-196; his re- 
lations with Reid in that connection, 
194, 195; on the obligations of his posi- 
tion with respect to loyalty to the 
President, 196; approves terms of the 
treaty with Spain, 197, 198; on the re- 
tention of the Philippines, 198, 199; 
on Carnegie's anti-imperialism, 199; 
one of his most salient traits, 199; was 
right in his stand on the Philippines, 
200; one of the first to understand the 
significance of the transformation of 
the Monroe Doctrine, 201; shapes all 
his work as Secretary with reference to 
it, 201; his view of importance of 
friendship between U.S. and nations of 
Western Europe, especially Great 
Britain, 202; has a warm coadjutor in 
Pauncefote, 203; the Joint High Com- 



INDEX 



429 



mission: criticizes Lord Herschell, 204, 
205; on the indifference of Canada 
to English interests, 206; on McKin- 
ley's coolness and courage, 206; on ar- 
bitration of Canadian questions, 207; 
Alaskan special commission: Roose- 
velt interferes, and warns British Cabi- 
net, 208 ff.; defends policy announced 
by Roosevelt, 211; instructs White to 
confer with Salisbury as to abrogation 
of Clayton-Bulwer treaty, 214; nego- 
tiates first canal treaty with Paunce- 
fote, 215 jff.; his attitude toward the 
Senate of the U.S., in respect to its 
handling of treaties, discussed in va- 
rious connections, 216, 217, 219, 224, 
225, 226, 240, 254, 269, 270, 272, 273, 
274, 392, 393, 399; on the complication 
of negotiations by joining Canadian 
questions, 217, 218, 220; praises Paunce- 
fote, 218; on the Democratic attitude 
toward England, 219; on relations of 
U.S. and Germany (1899), 220, 281; 
denies existence of "secret alliance" 
with England, 221, 233, 234; wishes 
England to win in BoerWar,22i ; on the 
Hepburn canal bill, 222 ; on the proba- 
bility of the Canal being built, 222, 223; 
on Senatorial courtesy, 226; resigns be- 
cause of action of Senate on first Hay- 
Pauncefote treaty, 226, 228; McKinley 
refuses to accept his resignation, 227; 
on newspaper abuse, 229; his depres- 
sion over failure of treaty explained, 
229; on the Boer War, 232; on the 
fighting skill of the British, 232, 233; 
disturbed byabuse caused byhis friend- 
ship for England, 233, 234, 235; is not 
"stuck on his job," 236; tries to com- 
municate with Conger during Boxer 
uprising, 236, 237; and Li Hung Chang, 
238, 239; on the brink of a collapse, 239, 
240; his efforts to preserve the integ- 
rity of the Chinese Empire, 240 f.; 
his instructions to Conger, 241; sends 
his note on the Open Door to London, 
Berlin, and St. Petersburg, 242; scope 
of his policy, 242; his view of impor- 
tance of Russian agreement, 242, 243; 
one of the most adroit strokes of mod- 
ern diplomacy, 243; works hard to 
avert effects of Boxer uprising, 244; 
sends Rockhill to China. 244, 245; 



on Waldersee's punitive expedition, 
245, 246; disturbed by drawing to- 
gether of England and Germany, 247; 
wins the most brilliant triumph of his 
career, 247; his share in saving the 
Chinese Empire alive, greater than 
that of any other statesman, 247, 284; 
spared the infamy of an alliance with 
Germany, 248, 283; on the relations of 
England and (iermany,249; hisachieve- 
ment gives him prestige, 249; and the 
campaign of 1900, 252; on Anglo- 
phobia, 253; on Bryan's chances of 
election, 253, 254, 255, 256; has deter- 
mined not to continue in ofBce, 254; 
on newspaper lies, 254, 255; on the anti- 
imperialist split, 257; begins negotia- 
tions for second canal treaty, 258, 259; 
on the right to fortify the Canal, 259, 
261; signs the second treaty, 261; 
elated by his success, 261, 262; his grief 
for the death of Adelbert, 262-264; his 
"hideous forebodings," 263, 266; wor- 
ried about C. King, 265 ; on the death of 
McKinley, 266, 267; agrees to remain 
in office under Roosevelt, 268; effect 
on his health of successive shocks, 268; 
his methods as Secretary contrasted 
with Root's, by Loomis, 270-272; out- 
shines most of his predecessors, in al- 
most all his relations as Sec. of State, 
274; his expressions colored by his 
mood, 274, 275; one of the first to per- 
ceive the hatching of the Pan-German 
intrigue, 275, 279, 280; dispute over 
Samoa brings him into immediate re- 
lations with German diplomacy, 280 J".; 
on the Samoan settlement, 282, 283; 
dissuades Roosevelt from acting as 
arbitrator in matter of foreign claims 
against Venezuela, 288; on the Ven- 
ezuelan settlement, 289; on the mutual 
hostility between England and U.S., 
291,335; the Irish thirst for his gore, 
291; injustice of criticisms of his atti- 
tude toward Germany and England re- 
spectively, 294, 295; his view of William 
n, 29s; the "Monroe Doctrine and the 
Golden Rule," 296; deserves title of 
" Statesman of the Golden Rule," 296; 
negotiations concerning the Panama 
Canal, 297 ff. ; earher stages conducted 
by Hay.later by Roosevelt, 297; negoti- 



430 



INDEX 



ates with New Panama Canal Co. for 
transfer of its rights, 300; on the ques- 
tion concerning choice of route, 300, 
301, 302; on the capacity of Latin- 
Americans to postpone, 302; confer- 
ences with Concha, 303; negotiations 
with Herran result in Hay-Herran 
treaty, 305; on the tergiversations of 
Colombia, 306, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312; 
and Bunau-Varilla, 316; his partici- 
pation in the affair grows less, 317; 
signs the treaty with Bunau-Varilla, 
as envoy of Panama Repubhc, 318; and 
the mission of General Reyes, 319, 
320; on MacVeagh's memorandum of 
grievances, 320; approved the Panama 
revolution, and never qualified his ap- 
proval, 321-327; comphments Root on 
his address on the subject, 324. 

His acquaintance with ths elder 
Roosevelt leads him to watch Theo- 
dore's early career, 332; becomes inti- 
mate with him in Washington in the 
nineties, ^33 ', deprecates abuse of Eng- 
land in U.S., 336; congratulates Roose- 
velt on his exploits in Spanish War, 
337; calls it "a splendid little war," 
337; congratulated by Roosevelt on his 
work, 338, who calls him the greatest 
Sec. of State of his time, 339; on Roose- 
velt's attitude toward nomination for 
Vice-President, 342 ; congratulates him 
on his nomination, 343; writes him on 
his accession to the Presidency, 344; 
agrees to retain office under Roose- 
velt, 345, 399; their relations during 
his last years, 345, 346; on the bestowal 
of the Kaiser's Chinese medal on 
Roosevelt, 346, 347; receives LL.D. 
from Harvard, 348; on Roosevelt's 
speech there, 348, 349, and on his West- 
ern speeches, 350; notes on Roosevelt 
from his latest Diary, 351 jff.; wishes 
Root to accept chairmanship of Re- 
publican National Committee, 353; 
makes address at St. Louis World's 
Fair, 354; on Roosevelt's French, 356; 
on his nearness to the throne, 357 and 
«.; on Parker's charges of corruption 
and Roosevelt's answer, 357, 358, 381- 
383; on Roosevelt's announcement con- 
cerning his continuance in State Dept., 
359; on Roosevelt's readiness to accept 



suggestions, 360; alarming decline of 
health sends him to Nauheim, 362, 
365, 366; on the inaugural address, 364. 
Again (1903) presses upon Russia the 
need of respecting integrity of China, 
367, 368; on " the convention of seven 
points," 368, 369; on the tension be- 
tween Russia and Japan, 370 Jt.; his 
circular of 1904 to the Powers, 372,373; 
relations with Takahira and Cassini, 
372 ff.; on the certainty of Roosevelt's 
nomination in 1904, 375, 376; could 
not be induced to accept nomination 
himself, 376; reluctant to take the 
stump, 376; on Parker and the Demo- 
cratic platform, 377 J.; severely con- 
demns Parker's action, 378, 380; ap- 
plaudsRoosevelt'sspeech of acceptance, 
379; makes three speeches in campaign, 
380; character of his later addresses — 
his "Franklin in France," and oration 
on McKinley, 380, 381 ; his laudation of 
the Repubhcan Party, 381 ; and the cap- 
ture and release of Perdicaris, 383, 384; 
and the negotiations for peace between 
Russia and Japan, 384^., 389, 390; his 
circular of 1905, and its reception by 
the Powers, 386-388; his health grow- 
ing visibly worse, 391 ; on his continu- 
ance in office, 391 ; his arbitration trea- 
ties and their maltreatment by the 
Senate, 391, 392, 393; Senate refuses 
to authorize him to accept French 
decoration, 393, 394; cHngs eagerly to 
hisremaining "cronies," 395; his health 
more frail than the public knew, 396; 
joins in founding American Academy 
of Arts and Letters, 396; his delight in 
his grandchildren, 397; his portrait 
painted by Sargent, 397, and his bust 
modeled by Saint-Gaudens, 397 ; on his 
own likenesses, 397, 398; had reached 
the end of his vitahty, 399; his last trip 
to Europe in search of health, 399 ff. ; 
Cambridge University votes to confer 
degree on him, 400; honorary degrees 
conferred by American universities, 400 
«.; received by Edward VII, 403; on 
the situation in Europe (1905), 404, 
405 ; his dream of Lincoln, 405 ; his last 
days, 406, 407; his death, 407; his self- 
criticism, 408; his farewell, from his 
Diary, 408, 409. 



INDEX 



431 



Hay, John Augustus. See Hay, Augus- 
tus L. 

Hay, Mary P., sister of H. See Woolfolk, 
Mary P. (Hay). 

Hay, Mary (Ridgely), sister-in-law of 
H., 1, 5 ». 

Hay, Milton, uncle of H., agrees to pay 
for H.'s college course, 1, 22, 32; letter 
of Charles Hay to, 53-55; his position 
at the bar, 74; 68, 69, 76, 80, 83, 88, 344. 

Hay-Herbert treaty, 2, 318. 

Hay-Herran treaty, provisions of, 2, 305 ; 
signed, and ratified by U.S. Senate, 305 ; 
not presented to Colombian Congress, 
306; Senate of Colombia amends, 309, 
then rejects, 309, 310. 

Hay-Pauncefote treaty (I), negotiations 
concerning, 2, 215 J'.; progress with, 
impeded by British Foreign Office, 215, 
217; signed Feb. 5, 1900, 223; attacked 
in Senate, 223 f. ; commended by Cen- 
tral American governments, 224; 
spoiled by amendments, and passed, 
226; opponents of, wiser than H., 230; 
severely criticized by Roosevelt, 339; 
252, 259 and «., 260, 273. 

Hay-Pauncefote treaty (II), first project 
of, 2, 258, 259; includes Davis amend- 
ment as to control of Canal, etc., 259; 
signed, Nov. 18, 1901, and ratified by 
Senate, Dec. 16, 261. 

Hayes, R. B., elected Governor of Ohio, 1, 
391 andw.; candidate for President, 427, 
428; commended by H. as Governor, 

429, and as President, 431; 403, 419, 

430, 435, 2, 21. 
Haymarket, The, at night, 1, 284. 
Hearn, Lafcadio, 1, 364. 

"Heathen Chinee, The." 5ee" Plain Lan- 
guage," etc. 

Heintzelman, Samuel P., 1, 189. 

Hehne, Dr., 1, 46, 71. 

Henikstein, Mr., 1, 301, 302. 

Henry, Prince, of Prussia, his visit to 
U.S., fails to stimulate pro-Prussian en- 
thusiasm, 2, 290, 291. 

Hepburn, W. P., introduces bill for im- 
mediate construction of Isthmian Canal, 
2, 222. 

Hepburn bill, authorizing construction of 
Canal at Nicaragua, passes House, 2, 
299; amended by Senator Spooner, to 
provide for Canal at Panama, 299. 



Herbert, Sir Michael, 2, 208, 368. 

Herran, Tomas, H. negotiates Hay-Her- 
ran treaty with, 2, 305; promises rati- 
fication by Colombia, 309. 

Herschell, Lord, on Joint High Commis- 
sion, 2, 203 «.;his "cantankerous "atti- 
tude, 204, 205; death of, 208. 

Hicks, Thomas H., Governor of Mary- 
land, on sending troops to Baltimore, 
1,96. 

History, H.'s creed as to the writing of, 
2, 30 /. •. 

Hoar, G. p., opposes first Hay-Paunce- 
fote treaty, 2, 224; 198. Letter to, 322. 

Hoffman, John T., 1, 343. 

Hoflfman, Wickham, 1, 233, 234, 237, 238. 

Hohenlohe, Prince, 1, 302. 

Holcombe, Mr., 1, 179, 180. 

Holleben, Dr., "in mortal terror of his 
Kaiser," 2, 235; his attitude as German 
Minister to U.S., 292, 293; tries to irri- 
tate Americans against England, 293; 
his charge against Pauncefote, 293 ; re- 
called by WilUam, 293. 

Holley, Alexander L., 1, 38. 

Holmes, Oliver VV., 1, 31. 

Holmes, Mr., H.'s first teacher, 1, 16. 

Holt, Joseph, 1, 195. 

Home Rule, in 1894, 2, in. 

Hood, Thomas, 1, 187, 198. 

Hooker, Joseph, eflect of Chancellorsville 
on his reputation, 1, 138, 139; H.'s notes 
on, 139--141 ; his criticism of Lee, 140, 
141; Lincoln's comment on, 141; 155, 
2,36. 

Hooper, "Bel," 1, 260, 264, 268. 

Hooper, Samuel, on financial legislation of 
Congress, 1, 272; 252, 260 »., 264. 

Hooper, Sturgis, Mrs. Sumner's first 
husband, 1, 260 n. 

Hooper, Mrs. Sturgis. See Sumner, Mrs. 
Charles. 

Hope College (Brown), 1, 47. 

Houghton, Lord, 2, 18. 

Houghton, Miffiin & Co., H.'s poems pub- 
lished by, 2, 69. 

"House Beautiful, The," poem by H., 1, 
67. 

Houssaye, Ars&ne, 1, 341, 343 and n. 

Howard, Oliver O., 1, 194. 

Howells, W. D., his Their Wedding Jour- 
n^y, 1. 357. 360; accepts "Castilian 
Days" for the Atlantic, 360; his Vene- 



432 



INDEX 



Han Life, compared with Caslilian Days, 
364; H.'s first acquaintance witli, 387; 
his Life of Lincoln, 387 n.; his, A Coun- 
terfeit Presentment, 394; his Yorick's 
Love, 398, 399,400, 401; his Lady of 
the Aroostook, 402 and ».; his A Fore- 
gone Conclusion, 409; his The Sleeping 
Car, 411; and the Bread-Winners, 2, 
8, 11; his study of Lincoln, 46; his 
Shadow of a Dream, 70; 1, 333, 416 and 
«., 2, 396. Letters to, 1, 357, 359, 394, 
399, 406, 408, 410, 429, 439, 2, 46, 69. 

Howells, Mrs. W. D., 1, 440. 

Hoyt, WiUiam, 1, 340 n. 

Hoyt, Mrs. William, 2, 35 and n. 

Hudson City, Butler's "flagship," 1, 142. 

Hugo, Victor, his Les Miserables, 2, 15. 

Humphrey, A. A., 2, 36. 

Humphrey, Captain, 2, 316. 

Hunt, Mrs., flays Abolitionists, 1, 82. 

Hunter, David, H. volunteer aide to, 1, 
149, 150, 151, 153; 92, 95, 97, 195, 202. 

Huntingdon, Professor, 1, 31. 

Hurlbert, William H., 1, 272 and n. 

Hutchinson, Miss, 1, 453. 

Illinois, significance of material develop- 
ment of, in i860, 1, 75, 76; political 
conditions in, in 1872, 344, 345. 

Illinois State Journal, Carrier's Address 
to Patrons of, 1, 353. 

Immigrants, not to be confounded with 
pioneers in the Middle West, 1, 8. 

Immigration, evils of, 1, 421. 

Imperialism, a fact, not to be recalled, 2, 
200; the main issue in election of 1900, 
250 #■; what it involved, 250; how the 
people were prevented from expressing 
their verdict on, 251. 

Inferior races. See Superior races. 

Iowa Democratic Convention of 1899, 2, 
219. 

Iquique, consulate at, 2, 189, 190. 

Irish, in U.S., sympathize with Boers, 2, 
221, 231; all Democrats, 235; in New 
York, thirst for H.'s go're, 291. 

Isabella IT, of Spain, 1, 316, 377. 

Isthmian Canal, feehng in U.S. concerning 
building and control of, emphasized by 
voyageofOregow,2,2i3;Clayton-Bulwer 
treaty stands in way of, 213, 214; Hep- 
burn bill for immediate construction of, 
222; Nicaragua route most probable. 



222; further negotiations with Great 
Britain concerning, 258 _ff.; H. on forti- 
fication of, 259; Lodge quoted on neces- 
sity of absolute control of, by U.S., 260; 
project of, causes redoublement of Ger- 
man efforts to get a foothold on Ameri- 
can Continent, 284; contest between 
rival routes, 298 ff. And see Clayton- 
Bulwer treaty, Hay-Herran treaty, 
Hay-Pauncefote treaty, Panama. 
Italy, claims of subjects of, against Vene- 
zuela, 2, 28s, 286, 289. 

Jackson, Andrew, 1, 153, 154. 

Jackson, T. J. ("Stonewall"), H.'s judg- 
ment of, 2, 32; 1, 126, 141, 195. 

Jacksonville, H.'s visit to, 1, 161,162, 163. 

James, Henry, his The American, 1, 394; 
his Portrait of a Lady, 411 and «.; and 
the American reading public, 411; 364, 
2, 73, 74, 78, 159, 397. Letter to, 1, 416. 

James, Thomas L., included in Garfield's 
Cabinet, 1, 448. 

Japan, forms league with England, 2, 367; 
forced into war by Russia, 370 _^.; and 
Russia, negotiations for peace between, 
406; 249. 

"Jay hawkers," 1, 92. 

Jefferson, Joseph, 1, 95. 

Jeffreys, Lord, 1, 409. 

Jesuits, H. lectures on history of,l, 59,61. 

Jett6, Sir L. A., 2, 208 n. 

Jeune, Lady, 2, 344. Letter to, 266. 

Jewett, William C, 1, 174, 179, 181. 

"Jim Bludso," genesis of, 1, 355; printed 
in Tribune, 356; last stanza of, 371 and 
«.; original of hero of, 375, 376; 359. 
368, 370, 373, 374- 

Jiu Jitsu, Roosevelt on, 2, 354. 

Johnson, Andrew, conflict between Con- 
gress and, 1, 245; prospect of impeach- 
ment of, 245; his fatal shortcomings, 
246; many of his measures justified by 
history, 246; bitterness of his oppo- 
nents and lukewarmness of his friends, 
246; and the Motley episode, 249; his 
cordiality to H., 263; Banks on im- 
peachment of, 264; 239, 250, 251, 252, 
257, 258, 261, 266, 267, 270, 297, 299. 

Johnson, Mrs. Andrew, 1, 263. 

Johnson, Reverdy, 1, 265. 

Johnson, Robert U., 2, 396. 

Johnston, Joseph E., 1, 113. 



INDEX 



433 



Joint High Commission, to adjust pend- 
ing questions between U.S. and Can- 
ada, 2, 203 and n., 204^., 235. 

Joinville, Prince de, 1, 140, 2, 26. 

Kasson, J. A., 2, 203 n. 

Kazan, Pass of, 1, 306. 

Keenan, Henry F., his Money-Makers, a 
reply to the Bread-Winners, 2, 13 and 
«•; 1, 337 and n., 338, 339. 

Kennan, George, 2, 125 and n. 

Kernan, Francis, 1, 343. 

Ketteler, Herr von, shot in Boxer trouble, 
2, 238 and «., 244. 

Key West, extracts from H.'s diary con- 
cerning, 1, 164-166. 

Keyes, Erasmus U., 1, 189. 

Kiao-Chau, 2, 231. 

King, Clarence, his friendship with H. 
and Adams, 2, 56 jf.; Adams's descrip- 
tion of, 56, 57; supposed author of Dem- 
ocracy, 59; his failing health, 265; his 
death, 268, 347; 1, 413, 2, 76, 81, 82, 
105 and n., 106, 108, 118, 119, 120, I2i, 
122, 124, I2S, 185. 

King, Judge. See Putnam, W. L. 

Kinglalie, A. W., 1, 283. 

Kinzie, Miss, 1, 268. 

Kipling, Rudyard, H.'s impression of, 2, 
126; on Roosevelt, 333. 

Klondilce, discovery of gold in, 2, 203. 

Knights of the Golden Circle, 1, 167,^. 

Knox, P. S., 2, 318, 355, 359, 392. 

Kohlsaat, H. H., 2, 154 and n. 

Komura, Baron, 2, 389. 

Konigsegg, Countess, 1, 302. 

Korea, menaced by Japan, 2, 367. 

Kretchmar, Young, 1, 147. 

Kretchpar, Old, 1, 147. 

Kruger, Paul, 2, 221, 232. 

Labor, Capital and. See Capital. 
Labor troubles in 1877, 2, i ff.; effect of, 

on H., 6; their meaning, 7. 
Labouchere, Henry, 2, 146. 
La Farge, John, 2, 56, 6r, 85, 86, 396. 
"Lagrimas," poem by H., 1, 380. 
Lajus, Baron de, 1, 233. 
Lake View Cemetery (Cleveland), H. 

buried in, 2, 407. 
Lamon, Ward H., 1, 94, 204, 247, 2, 23. 
Lamsdorff, Count, 2, 368, 373, 390. 
Lander, Frederick W., 1, 94. 



Lander, Mrs. Jean M., seeks to warn 
Lincoln of danger of assassination, 1, 
93. 94, 95- 

Lander, Miss Louisa, 1, 95. 

Lane, James H., and C. Schurz, 1, 102; 
92 and «., 94. 

Lanier, Sidney, 2, 38. 

Lansdowne, Marquis of, 2, 258, 387, 390. 

Latin-Americans, capacity of, to post- 
pone, 2, 302. 

Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, 2, 203 «., 206. 

Lee, Henry, one of the wittiest Harvard 
graduates, quoted, 2, 128. 

Lee, Robert E., goes over to Virginia, 1, 
105, 106; his estimate of Grant and Mc- 
Clellan, 136; Hooker's slighting opinion 
of, 140, 141; H. and Nicolay's opinion 
of, 2, 32; 1, 194, 218. 

Legion of Honor, Senate refuses to allow 
H. to accept Grand Cross of,2, 393,394. 

Leonard, David A., 1, 22, 23. 

Leonard, Helen. See Hay, Mrs. Helen 
(Leonard). 

Leopold II, of Belgium, 2, 400. 

"Lese-Amour," poem by H., 1, 166 n. 

Li Hung Chang, and the Boxer uprising, 
2, 237, 238; Conger warns H. against 
him, 238, 

Liberal Republican movement of 1872, 
at first favored by H., 1, 424, 425; ac- 
cession of Democrats to, drives H. 
away, 425. 

Liberal Republicans nominate Greeley, in 
1872, 1, 343; H. on prospects of success 
of, 344, 345- 

"Life at the White House in Lincoln's 
Time," 2, 47 and n. 

Lincoln, Abraham, H. quoted concern- 
ing, 1, 7; his joint debates with Doug- 
las, 76-78, 79, 80; character of his ora- 
tory, 76, 77, 105; his sincerity, 77; 
stands on principle, 77, 78; his real 
theme, 78; his views on slavery, 78; de- 
feated for Senatorship by Douglas, 78; 
H.'s first association with, 80; named 
as Illinois' candidate for President, 86; 
nominated for President, 86; enthusi- 
asm for, among young men, 87; elected, 
87; appoints H. assistant private secre- 
tary, 87, 88; his farewell to Springfield, 
88; his first inaugural, quoted, 90; H.'s 
early relations with, 91 ; first weeks of 
his Administration, 91 ; calls for volun- 



434 



INDEX 



teers, 92; warned of danger of assassi- 
nation, 94; and conditions in Baltimore, 
96, 97, 98, 99; plans to take Charleston, 
100; declines to authorize Butler to 
arrest Maryland legislators, 100, loi ; 
dominates H. from the outset, 104; his 
great qualities, 104; H. makes merry 
over his oddities, 105; his anxiety in 
April, 1861, fully justified, 105 f.; 
quoted on excitement in the North, 
107; on the central idea pervading the 
Civil War, 108; his Gettysburg speech, 
108; his literary preferences, 109; his 
unfashionable habits, 109; H. defends 
sensitiveness of, to political exigencies, 
III, 112; how he passed the Sunday of 
Bull Run, 113, 114; his ante-inaugura- 
tion policy of conciliation toward the 
South, 118, 119; anxious to prevent 
bloodshed, 119; and McClellan, 122^. ; 
McC.'s discourtesy to, 124; his invin- 
cible patience one source of his mas- 
tery, 125; contrast between McC. and, 
125; his patience exhausted at last, 126; 
appoints Pope in McC.'s place, 126; 
after Second Bull Run, restores him, and 
after Antietam again relieves him, 129, 
133; tells H. the story of the Wood- 
McC. intrigue, 129-132; his fears as 
to McClellan's loyalty, after Antietam, 
132, 133; his purpose to cooperate with 
McC. if defeated in 1864, 133, 134. 
216, 217, 2, 22 and n., 356; his pa- 
tience and firmness displayed in his 
treatment of McC, 1, 134, 135; under- 
rated by large majority of people in 
the North, during most of his Presi- 
dency, 136; S. Bowles's estimate of, 136; 
reads his Emancipation Proclamation 
to the Cabinet, 138, 191; its eSect on 
his advisers, 138, 191 ; his comment on 
Hooker, 141 ; his message on reconstruc- 
tion, 155, 156; sends H. South, 156, 158; 
sends H. to St. Louis on mission con- 
nected with Knights of Golden Circle, 
i6l f.; his "good-humored contempt" 
for that order, 168, 170; and Greeley, 
172^.; correspondence with Greeley on 
proposedpeacenegotiations, etc.,i74J'.; 
empowers Greeley to bring Commission- 
ers to Washington, 175-177; sends note 
stating conditions, to H. at Niagara, 
179; Greeley's bad faith and injustice 



to, 181-183; importance to H. of his 
influence, 184; declines to be protected 
from rush of office-seekers, 184, 185; 
political exigencies not to be avoided by, 
185; his daily routine, 186; his abstemi- 
ousness, 186; his humor, 187, 196; his 
fondness for Shakespeare, 187; classes 
upon which he failed to make the most 
favorable impression, 187, 188; his sec- 
retaries share his confidence, 188; vivid- 
ness of H.'s notes on, 188; his General 
War Order, No. i, 188; his participa- 
tion in military operations, 188; his 
simplicity veils his mastery, 189; feels 
reverses keenly, 190; and the Second 
Bull Run, 190, 191; disappointed by 
Meade's failure to follow up Gettys- 
burg victory, 192 f.; could he have 
crushed the Rebellion at Gettysburg ? 
194; his sense of justice, 195; his merci- 
fulness, 195, 196; his power of resihence, 
196; his attitude toward aspirants for 
the succession, 196; H. on his suprem- 
acy in the Cabinet, 197; his continu- 
ance in office essential for the good of 
the country, 197; thinks the Rebel 
power on the point of disintegration 
(Aug. 1863), 197; an expect in statuary, 
197, 198; his unconventionlil ways, 198, 
199; a "backwoods Jupiter," 199, 200; 
letter to Illinois Republican Convention, 
200; on Chase's presidential aspirations, 
201, 202; refuses to be influenced 
against him, 202, 203 ; on the trip to Get- 
tysburg to consecrate Soldiers' Cem- 
etery, 20zf-\ the Gettysburg speech, 
206, 207, 2, 36; message of Dec, 1863, 
1, 208; and J. K. Hackett, 209 and «.; 
his interest in Falstaff,209; his approval 
of Grant, 210, 211; renominated, 212; 
danger of his defeat, 212, 213; never 
loses his poise, 213; charitable to the 
disloyal, 213; reelected, 214, 215; his 
reception of the result, 215, 216; his 
speeches to serenaders, 217; assassi- 
nated by Booth, 219; his death, 220; 
proposed biography of, by H. and Nico- 
lay, 275 ; and the Republican Party, 422, 
423,424; Grant's judgment of, 2, 49; his 
letters and speeches published, 149; H. 
gives Roosevelt lock of his hair in a 
ring, 363; H.'s dream of, in 1905, 405; 
1, 14, 20, 40, 74, 93, 97, 102, 103, 117, 



INDEX 



435 



Ii8, 147, 149, 150, 180, 201, 210, 218, 
221, 249, 266, 279, 2, 16, 18, 19, 25, 
35, 38, 40, 44, 46, 47, 51, 266, 318, 
332, 338. And see Nicolay and Hay. 

Lincoln, Mrs. Mary (Todd), 1, 91, 95, 
219. 

Lincoln, Robert, cousin of Abraham L., 
H.'s conversation with, 1, 279. 

Lincoln, Robert T., hands over his bio- 
graphical material to Nicolay and H., 
2, 16, 17; 1, 193, 219, 2, 195. Letters to, 
20, 24, 44, 45. 

Lincoln, Mrs. R. T., 2, 21. 

Lincoln, Thomas ("Tad"), 1, 187. 

Lincoln, William, son of President, death 
of, 1, 187. 

Lippincott's Magazine, 1, 358, and n. 

Lippitt, Mrs., 1, 296. 

Literature, in Austria, 1, 301. 

"Little Breeches," inspired by "The 
Heathen Chinee"? 1, 355; printed in 
Tribune, 356; great success of, 356, 358; 
moral of, 372; origin of, 372 ff.; H.'s 
"loathing" for, 373, 374; published in 
England, 373; London Athenaum on, 
374; 368, 370. 

"Little Giant." See Douglas, Stephen A. 

"Little M^." See McClellan. 

Locke, D. R. See Nasby. 

Lodge, Henry C, letter of, to H., on ne- 
cessity of U.S. controlling any Isthmian 
canal, 2, 260; supports second treaty, 
262; 56, 82, 127, 152, 171, 208 «., 209, 
25s, 256, 333, 335, 339. Letters to, 159, 
165, 168, 172, 177, 223. 

Lodge, Mrs. K. C, 2, 56, 60, 62, 88, 
127, 333, 335- 

Logan, John A., 1, 348 and «., 2, 31. 

Logan, Stephen T., 1, 74. 

London, 1, 280. 

London, Bishop of, 1, 282. 

London Chronicle, 2, 144, 145. 

London Times, 2, 144, 391. 

Long, John D., 2, 154. 

Longstreet, James, 1, 126, 141. 

Loomis, Francis B., quoted as to diverse 
characteristics of Root and H., 2, 270- 
272; writes author regarding H.'s atti- 
tudeon Panama question, 325; 189,399. 

Loring, Harriet K., letters to, 1, 6, 327. 

Loubat prize, awarded to H. Adams, 2, 
112. 

Louis of Bavaria, Prince, 1, 297. 



Lounsbury, T. S., 2, 397. 

Lowell, J. R., his Biglow Papers, 1, 368, 
369; his Commemoration Ode, 2, 44; 
H.'s resemblance to, 398; 1, 68, 2, 160. 

Lowell, Percival, 1, 364. 

Lower California, William II seeks har- 
bors on coast of, 2, 284, 

Ludlow, Fitzhugh, his Hasheesh-Eater, 1, 
47- 

McClellan, George B., his organizing abil- 
ity, 1, 120; his inordinate self-esteem, 
120; affection of his troops for, 120, 
and of his supporters, 121; relations of, 
with Lincoln, 122 Jf.; "don't let them 
hurry me," 123; succeeds Scott in com- 
mand of Army of U.S., 123; his self- 
assurance, 124; his discourtesy to Lin- 
coln, 124; contrast between Lincoln 
and, 125; delays action, 125; in motion 
at last, 126; H.'s satirical comments on, 
126; superseded by Pope, 126; did he 
want Pope to be defeated? 127, 128, 
129, 191 ; Lincoln's opinion of, 127, 128; 
popular feeling against, 128; restored 
to command of Army of Potomac, 129; 
his virtual failure at Antietam, 129, 
132,133; again relieved,i29, 133; Demo- 
cratic candidate for President, 129; 
the Wood-McClellan intrigue, 130-132; 
his relations with "Baldy Smith," 130- 
132; urged (in 1862) to run for Presi- 
dent on a platform of conciliation to 
the South, 132, and agrees to do so, 133; 
Lincoln's fears as to his loyalty, 133; 
Lincoln's purpose in event of election 
of, 133, 134, 216, 217, 2, 22 n., 356; 
attitude of his friends and apologists 
after his dismissal, 1, 135; H.'s severe 
judgment of, 135; Lee's estimate of, 
136; his campaign for the Presidency, 
212/.; 137, 138, 144, 188,193,2,18,26, 
29, 31, 43, 46, 378. 

McCook, Alex. M., 1, 201. 

McCliire's Magazine, 2, 356. 

McCormick, Robert S., 2, 368. 

McDougall, James A., 1, 270. 

McDowell, Irvin, beaten at Bull Run, 1, 
113; 189. 

McGinnis, George F., 1, 262 and n. 

McKinley, William, father of tariff act 
of 1890, 2, 133; Hanna's selection for 
President, as flawless champion of pro- 



436 



INDEX 



tection, 136; his early career, as a sol- 
dier, and in Congress, 136; his char- 
acter, 136, 137; his unspotted Repub- 
licanism, 137; his good-nature, his 
transcending quality, 137; his popu- 
larity in Ohio, 137; chosen Governor, 
137; on the verge of bankruptcy, but 
rescued by RepubUcan contributions, 
138; "enthusiasm" of Southern dele- 
gates for, 138; and the free coinage of 
silver, 140; his nomination favored by 
H., 141 ; H. campaigns for, in England, 
143, 144, 145; nominated on gold plat- 
form, 149; remains at Canton during 
campaign, 152; H. takes stump for, 152; 
H. confers with, at Canton, 153, 154; 
his serenity, 153; and the Bushnell- 
Hanna intrigue, 155, 156; appoints 
H. ambassador to Great Britain, 156; 
"no tenderfoot," 167; change of 
opinion concerning, 168; offers H. 
Secretaryship of State, 173, 174; and 
the office-seekers, 192; H.'s commenda- 
tion of, 206; has no great desire for re- 
election, 219, 220; refuses to accept H.'s 
resignation, 227; renominated in 1900, 
251; his personal traits generally ap- 
proved, 251, 252; H. fears effect on his 
vote of position of State Dept. on inter- 
national questions, 252; reelected, 257, 
258; and the second Hay-Pauncefote 
treaty, 262; assassination of, 265, 267, 
343; his character described by H., 266; 
H.'s oration on, 381 ; 1,367 »., 419, 2, 82, 
320, 125, 147, 148, 149, 150, 173, 183, 
195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 207, 221, 228, 
229, 253, 254, 256, 293, 297, 302, 332, 
334. 336, 340, 342, 344. 361. Letters to, 
2, 226, 238, 257. 

McKinley Bill, passage of, followed by 
defeat of Republicans in 1890, 2, 133. 

McLean, John R., 2, 124. 

McMillan, James, letter to, 2, 233. 

McPherson, James B., 1, 211. 

MacVeagh, FrankHn, 2, 132. 

MacVeagh, Wayne, at Gettysburg con- 
secration, 1, 203, 204, 205, 206 and «.; 
included in Garfield's Cabinet, 448; 
counsel for Colombia, after revolu- 
tion in Panama, 2, 319, 320; 108 and 
«■. 152, 355- 

Maceo, Cuban, 2, 143 and n. 

Madison, James, 1, 204. 



Maine, destruction of, and its effect, 2, 

164. 
Manchuria, Russia's aggression in, 2, 

246; Russia and, 367, 369, 370. 
Mancini, Senor, 2, 315. 
Manila, battle of, 2, 167. 
Manila Bay, German squadron in, 2, 280. 
Margherita, Queen, of Italy, 2, 106. 
Marie Antoinette, 1, 228. 
Marly horses, the, 1, 289. 
Marroquin, Pres. of Colombia, a virtual 

despot, 2, 304; rumored resignation of, 

306; his scheme of e.xtortion, 306, 307; 

311. 312. 
Marseilles, visit of American warships to, 

2, 293, 294. 
Marston, General, 1, 156, 157. 
Martinez, Lieut., 1, 203. 
Maryland, danger of secession of, 1, 98. 
Mason, Frank H., 2, 23, 24, 192. Letter 

to, 381. 
Mason, William, 2, 226. 
Massachusetts, 6th Regiment, mobbed 

in Baltimore, 1, 98, 105. 
Massachusetts 54th (colored) Regiment, 

1, 158, 159 M. 
Mather, Samuel, letters to, 2, 141, 154, 

158, 182, 255, 256, 407. 
Matthews, Brander, 2, 13 n. 
Maximilian, Archduke, in Mexico, 1, 223, 

2,35- 

Mead, Larkin G., 1, 416 and n. 

Meade, George G., fails to follow up 
Gettysburg victory, 1, 192/.; favored 
pursuit of Lee, but was overruled, 194, 
195:211,2,36. 

Medill, Joseph H., 1, 453. 

Mendoza, Mr., 2, 306. 

Mercier, M., 1, 203. 

Merriam,G. S.,his Samuel Bowles, quoted, 
1. 136. 

Merrimac, the, destroyed by the Monitor, 
1, 189. 

Metropolitan Magazine, 2, 317 n. 

Mexico, presence of Maximilian and 
French troops in, causes tension be- 
tween France and U.S., 1, 223 f. 

Meyer, G. von L., 2, 387. 

Michel, Louise, 1, 414. 

Middle West, hardships of life in, in mid 
19th century, 1, 7 f. 

Militarism, H. on danger of, 1, 303. 
304- 



INDEX 



437 



Miller, Cincinnatus H. ("Joaquin"), 

1, 362 and n. 

Millet, Frank D., 2, 73, 74 and «., 75. 

Mills, Elizabeth, marries W. Reid, 1, 
404, 405. 

Minturn, Grinnell, 1, 92. 

Mississippi River, 1, 277. 

Mitchell, Dr. S. Weir, 1, 395. 

Modena, Grand Duchess of, 1, 297. 

Molkenhof, the, 1, 304. 

Monitor, the, and the Mcrrimac, 1, 189. 

Monroe Doctrine, transformation of, 2, 
200; and the forcible collection of debts 
from Venezuela, 284^. ; and the " Golden 
Rule," 296; Roosevelt on effect of first 
Hay-Pauncefote treaty on, 341; 141, 
142, 225, 273, 277. 

Moody, William H., 2, 376. 

Morgan, Edwin D., 1, 254. 

Morgan, J. P., 2, 1 54',"! 94- 

Morgan, John T., the zealot of the canal 
project, 2, 299; thinks U.S. should ac- 
quire whole state of Panama, 303, 304; 
condemns treaty with Panama, 326, 
327; H. on his attitude, 327; 226, 261, 
322. Letters to, 215, 300, 301, 302. 

Morley, John (Viscount), on Roosevelt, 

2, 360. 

"Mormon Prophet's Tragedy, The," 1, 

354, ass- 
Morocco, affairs of, 2, 388, 389. And see 

Perdicaris. 
Morris, Edgar R., 1, 40. 
Morton, Levi P., 2, 124, 126. 
Morton, Paul, 2, 361. 
Motley, John L., and the Vienna mission, 

1, 247, J"., 257; the McCrackin charges, 
218, 249; his hasty resignation ac- 
cepted, 249; unreconciled to his treat- 
ment, 284, 28s; 279, 280, 286. 

Motley, Mrs. J. L., 1, 249. 

Mouravieff, Count, and the "Open Door," 

2, 243. 

Moustier, Marquis de, 1, 233. 
Mud Volcano, the, 2, 117. 
Mugwumps, in 1900, 2, 254. 
Miinch-Bellinghausen, Baron, 1, 301. 
Munroe & Co., 1, 278. 
Murphy, Lieut., 2, 316. 

Napoleon I, 2, 103. 

Napoleon III, and the Empire of Majd- 
milian in Mexico, 1, 223 J".; notified to 



withdraw his troops, 223; "acknowl- 
edged arbiter of Europe," with re- 
serves, 224 ; 225 ; omens of disaster, 225 ; 
his misreading of Bismarck, 225; H.'s 
impressions of, expressed in verse, 226^. ; 
anecdote of, 232; as he appeared at an 
Imperial reception, 235; H.'s lifelike 
description of, 235, 236, 237; H. pre- 
sented to, 237, 238; his Diplomatic Re- 
ception, Jan. I, 1867, 240/.; and Al- 
monte, 242, 243; in 1868, 313; Caste- 
lar on, 319; 222, 233, 256, 376, 377. 

Napoleon, Prince, H. presented to, 1, 299; 
223. 

Narragansett Bay, 1, 26. 

Nasby, Petroleum V., 1, 187, 214, 266. 

Nauheim, H. takes cure at, 2, 365, 399^. 

New Englanders, in the Middle West, 1, 
9, 10. 

New York 7th Regiment, 1, 99, 100. 

New York Commercial Bulletin, 1, 272. 

New York Evening Post, 1, 452 and w., 2, 
322, 355, 379- 

New York Herald, 1, 337, 338, 339, 2, 109, 
no, 144. 

New York Staals Zeitung, favors McKin- 
ley, 2, 255. 

New York State, political conditions in, 
in 1875, 1,426. 

New York Sun, and the Alaskan bound- 
ary question, 2, 235, 236; 2S3, 378. 

New York Times, advises resignation of 
Cabinet, 1, 107; 2, 378. 

New York Tribune, the most authorita- 
tive paper in the U.S., 1, 171; Greeley 
the autocrat of, 172; H. joins staff 
of, 331 333; status of, in 1870, 
334. 335; its remarkable group of edi- 
torial writers, 334; W. Reid, manager 
of, 334; no longer Greeley's personal 
organ, 335; H.'s account of his work 
on, 336 and «.; H. reports Chicago fire 
for, 337 ff.; uses H. in many ways, 
341; Greeley resigns editorship of, 
343; H. prints "Little Breeches" and 
"Jim Bludso" in, 356, 373; and the 
Florida despatches, 398 and ».; H. 
editor-in-chief of, during Reid's honey- 
moon, 405, 450/.; H. writes political 
editorials in, 424; and Conkling and 
Piatt, 430; 391, 392, 394. 396, 424. 
425, 426, 428, 2, 134, 283, 332. 

New York World, 1, 210, 2, 308, 378. 



438 



INDEX 



Newbury, N.H., H.'s summer home at, 
2, 72, 77, 79, 80, 87, 90; H.'s death oc- 
curs at, 407. 

Newdegate, Charles N., 1, 281, 282. 

Newport, R.I., 1, 26. 

Nicaragua, Republic of, ignorance in, as 
to attitude of U.S., 2, 300, 301; delay 
of, 300, 302. 

Nicaragua route, probable selection of, 
for canal, 2, 222; favored by Morgan, 
and by Walker commission, 298; 
adopted by Hepburn bill, but sup- 
planted by Panama route in Spooner 
amendment, 299; possibility of revert- 
ing to, 314. 

Nichol, Mr., 1, 445, 446. 

Nicholas II, Czar, 2, 249, 384, 387, 390. 

Nicholson, Donald, 2, 196 and n. 

Nicolay, John G., H.'s first meeting with, 
1, 19; Lincoln's secretary during cam- 
paign, 87; made private secretary 
after election, 87; H. a valuable assist- 
ant to, 88; H.'s close friendship with, 
144; Thurlow Weed on, 222; informed 
by H. of his engagement, 350, 351 ; his 
share in the Lincoln history, 2, 16, 17, 
20, 23, 24, 27, 28, 41, 42, 50; collabo- 
rates with H. in editing Lincoln's letters 
andspeeches, 49;deathof, 268;1, 83, 84, 
90, 91, 105, 129, 184, 198, 203, 205, 247, 
3S6, 395, 406, 416, 417, 2, 39, 44, 46, 

47. Letters to, 1, 125 Jf., 145, 146, 147, 
154, 196, 199, 200, 212, 213, 249, 270, 
274, 275, 310, 321, 323. 328, 335. 351. 
356, 358. 395. 402, 412, 2, 18, 19, 21, 

23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 34, 35, 37, 39, 

48, 106, 239. 

Nicolay and Hay, their Abraham Lincoln : 
History, narrative of their collabora- 
tion in, 2, 16 _ff.; serial rights in, sold 
to Century Co., 17; publication of, in 
Century Magazine, 17, 37, 40, 41; ar- 
rangements for publication of, in book 
form, 45 f.; published by Century Co. 
in 1890, 49; sales of, 49; cited, 1, 8, 74, 
79, 80, 90, 100, 106, III, 112, 167 «., 
177, 182, 183, 200 »., 207, 386. 

Nordhoff, Charles, 2, no. 

Norman (Sir) Henry, 2, 145. 

Norris, W. E., quoted, 1, 19, 20 and n.; 

24, 41. 

North, newspapers of, criticize Lincoln's 
administration, 1, 107; clamor of, for 



action, responsible for First Bull Run, 
112,113; Lincoln largely underrated by, 
during most of his Presidency, 136. 

North American Remenv, 2, 176. 

North Carolina, campaign of 1872, in, 1, 
345, 346 and n. 

"Northward," poem by H., 1, 166. 

Norton, Charles Eliot, 2, 198, 397. 

Obaldia, Senor, Gov. of Panama, 2, 315. 

O'Connor, Wilham D., 1, 46. 

OfBce-seekers, rapacity of, a source of 
annoyance to H., 2, 188 f. 

Oglesby, Richard J., 1, 348 and n. 

Ohio, politics in (1875), 1, 391; conditions 
in, 426; election of 1879 in, 433; strikes 
and rioting in, in 1877, 2, 2, 3. 

Ohio Society of N.Y., H.'s address before 
(1903), 1, 2. 

O'Leary, Widow, and her cow, 1, 337. 

Oliphant, Laurence, 1, 349 and n., 350. 

Oliphant, Mrs. Laurence, 1, 349 and n. 

Olney, Richard, 2, 152, 254, 339. 

Opdycke, G., 1, 203. 

Open Door, in China, policy of, H. strives 
to maintain, 2, 240, 241, 385, 386; H.'s 
"famous" note on, 242; H. accustomed 
the world to accept, as the only decent 
policy toward China, 243 ; imperiled by 
Boxer uprising, 244. 

Opera, the, in Vienna, 1, 286. 

Order of American Knights. See Knights 
of the Golden Circle. 

Oregon, her voyage around Cape Horn, 
2, 213. 

Orense, Senor, 1, 318. 

Osborn-Morgan, Mr., 1, 412. 

Osgood, James R., 1, 360, 361. 

Osgood, James R., and Co., H.'s first 
publishers, 1, 355; publish Castilian 
Days and Pike County Ballads, 360. 

O'Shea, Mrs. Kitty, 82 and n. 

Osier, William, 402 and n. 

Overland Monthly, 1, 355. 

Oxford, Bishop of, 1, 282. 

Pago Pago, harbor of, 2, 282. 

Painter, Mr., 1, 251. 

Palfrey, John G., 2,31. 

Palmer, John M., nominated by Gold 

Democrats in 1896, 149, 150; 1, 74 «., 

348 and n. 
Palmer, Mrs. Potter, 2, 132. 



INDEX 



439 



Palmerston, Lord, 2, 172. 

Panama, Province of, Morgan and others 
favor annexation of, 2, 303, 304; how 
regarded by Colombia, 304; history of, 
304; its interests distinct from Colom- 
bia's, 304; revolution in, predicted, af- 
ter failure of treaty, 311 ; revolution in, 
predicted by Varilla, 316; "bloodless" 
revolution accomplished, 317; Roose- 
velt quoted as to his purpose in default 
of revolution in, 328. 

Panama, Republic of, creation of, the 
subject of vehement debate, 2, 297; 
proclaimed, Nov. 3, 1903, 317, and re- 
cognized by U.S., Nov. 4, 317; Bunau- 
Varilla, first envoy of, to U.S., 317; 
treaty with U.S., signed, 318; action 
of U.S., in respect to, defended by 
H., 323^., and never regretted by him, 
325/. 

Panama Canal Co., New, acquires plant, 
etc., of old company, and offers to sell 
to U.S., 2, 298; purchase of its rights 
provided for by Spooner amendment 
to Hepburn bill, 299; negotiations of, 
with U.S., 299, 300; provisions of Hay- 
Herran treaty concerning, 305; de- 
mands of Colombia on, refused by 
Cromwell, 307; officers of, alarmed by 
action of Colombia, 311, 312; pressed 
by need of settlement, 314, 315. 

Panama Canal Co., Old, collapse of, 2, 
213; sells its plant, etc. to New Com- 
pany, 298. 

Panama question, solution of rested en- 
tirely with Roosevelt, 2, 321 ; the whole 
matter summed up, 328-331. 

Panamanians, restlessness of, over the 
canal question, 2, 312, 313; their posi- 
tion compared with that of the Fili- 
pinos, 313 ; have the revolutionary 
habit, 313; encouraged'' in their un- 
concealed desire for freedom, 315. 

Pan-Germanism, aims of, revealed to H. 
by his experience in London, 2, 280. 
And see Germany. 

Panic of 1893, 2, 99, 100. 

Papacy. See Temporal Power. 

Paris, Comte de, his history of the Civil 
War, 1, 413, 2, 18, 26, 29. 

Paris, H. appointed Secretary of Legation 
at, 1, 218; Nicolay American Consul 
at, 222; of the Second Empire, glories 



of, 224; conditions in, in 1883, 414; a 
poor place to live in, 415; Salons of 
1894, 2, no, iir. 

Paris, treaty of, Bryan supposed to have 
advised confirmation of, 2, 251. 

Parker, Alton B., charges Roosevelt with 
employing corruption fund, 2, 357 and 
«., 381 ; Roosevelt's answer to his 
charges, 357, 358, 382, 383; congratu- 
lates Roosevelt on his election, 359; his 
conduct on receiving nomination for 
Presidency condemned by H., 377-379, 
380:352,353. 

Parrot gun, 1, 160. 

Partridge, Mr., Unionist of Baltimore, 1, 
96. 

Patriotism, and taste, 1, 411. 

Patterson, Robert, 1, 113. 

Patterson, Mrs., 1, 257. 

Pauncefote, Sir Julian (Lord), a warm 
coadjutor of H., 2, 202, 203, 206; H. 
negotiates with, concerning abroga- 
tion of Clayton-Bulwer treaty, 215 jj.; 
his conduct commended by H., 218; 
Holleben's charge against, after his 
death, 293; worked consistently to 
strengthen friendship between Great 
Britain and U.S., 293; 84, 187, 197, 223, 
235. 258. 

Pefifer, W. A., 2, 125. 

Peking, foreign Legations at, attacked 
by Boxers, 2, 236; uncertainty as to 
fate of, 236 J".; relieved, 240, 284. 

Penfield, Charles, 2, 21. 

Peninsular Campaign, blunders of, 1, 126. 

Pension Bureau, 1, 420. 

Pensions, 1, 420 JJ. 

Perdicaris, Ion H., captured by bandits, 
2, 383, and released, 384. 

Perger de Perglas, 1, 234. 

Perry, Nora, H.'s early acquaintance 
with, 1, 46; her "After the Ball," 71; 
61, 64, 67, 387. Letters to, 50, 56, 63, 66. 
69, 70. .\nd sec A Poet in Exile. 

Peruvian Minister to France, 1. 234. 

Petteridge, Mr., Unionist of Baltimore, 1, 
96. 

Pettigrew, R. F., 2, 226. 

Phelps, William Walter, 1, 399 and n., 

433- 
Philadelphia Convention of Conservative 
Republicans, Sumner's opposition to 
Dix for presiding at, 1, 270. 



440 



INDEX 



Philennian Society (Brown), 1, 46. 

Philippines, H. approves retention of, by 
U.S., 2, 198; opposition of Anti-Im- 
perialists to retention of, 198, 199; 170, 
176, 179, 251, 280. 

PhiUips, Billy, 2, 92 and n., 93, 125. 

Phillips, Hallett, 2, 116. 

PhiUips, Wendell, 1, 76. 

Piatt, John J., 1, 3S7. 

Pike County Ballads, published, 1, 360, 
367, 368; popular in England, 374; 20. 

Pike County Democrat, 1, 20 n. 

Piliesville .\rsenal, 1, 96. 

Pioneers in the West, H. quoted concern- 
ing their life, 1, 7, 8; not to be confused 
with immigrants, 8; their principles and 
beliefs, 8, 9; their attitude toward edu- 
cation and learning, 9, 10; their politics, 
10. 

Pittsburg, strikes at, in 1877, 2, i. 

Pittsfield, III., 1, 19. 

Pius IX, uncertainty of, in 1866, as to the 
future, 1, 230; his conversation with 
Lord O. Russell, 231. 

Plain Language from Truthful James, 1, 
355. 356. 

Plangon, M., 2, 369. 

Piatt, T. C, resigns U.S. Senatorship, 
450; 1, 430, 2, 120, 194, 338, 341, 342. 

Pleasonton, Alfred, 1, 194. 

"Pledge at Spunky Point, The," 1, 368, 
369. 370. 

"Plon-Plon." See Napoleon, Prince. 

Poe, Edgar A., and Mrs. Whitman, 1, 43, 
44, 45 ; iniiuence of, on H.'s early poems, 

45- 
Poet in Exile, A , quoted, 1, 46, 50, 56, 63, 

66, 70. 
Point Lookout, Southern pioneers at, 1, 

157- 

Poland, H.'s visit to, 1, 305, 306. 

Political wiseacres, nagging of Lincoln's 
administration by, 1, 11 1; malign in- 
fluence of, on mihtary plans in Civil 
War, III. 

Politics, dominating influence of, on war, 
defended by H., 1, iii, 112; involved 
in selection of higher ofl^cers in Civil 
War, 118. 

Pomeroy, Samuel C, 1. 92. 

Pope, John, supersedes McCIellan, 1, 126; 
beaten at Second Bull Run, 127; Mc- 
CIellan and, 127, 128; favored by Stan- 



ton, 128; superseded by McCIellan, 
129; 190. 

Populism, rise of, 2, 140. 

Porter, David D., 1, 250. 

Porter, Fitz-John, and McCIellan, 2, 31; 
divided opinion as to his guilt, 31, 32. 

Porter, Horace, 2, 194, 195, 197, 387. 
Letter to, 255. 

Porter, Jane, 1, 6 and n. 

Pottawatomies, 1, 106. 

Potter, Bishop, Henn,' C. 2, 119, 120. 

Potter, Mrs. Henrj' C, 2, 120. 

Potter, William, 108 and «. 

Press, the, and the conduct of the War, 1, 
no. III; bus3- inventing lies, 2, 254. 

Price, Sterling, 1, 168. 

Pritchett, Henry S., letter to, 2, 326. 

Prim, Juan, the perfection of enigma, 1, 
322; 317- 

Prince Imperial, the, 1, 241, 242, 243. 

"Progress of Democracy in Europe, 
The," H. lectures on, 1, 315. 

Property, assaults on, inspiration and ef- 
fect of, 7, 8; the Bread-Winners, the 
first polemic in American fiction in de- 
fense of, 15. 

Protection, and the Civil War, 1, 419, 
420; the cornerstone of the Republican 
creed, 420; vital issue of campaign of 
1S88, 2, 130; Hanna's belief in, leads to 
selection of McKinley in 1896, 136^. 

Providence, in 1855, 1, 25-27; contrast 
between, and Warsaw, 111., 43 ; literarj- 
set in, 43 /. 

Putnam, W. L., and Judge King, award 
of, as arbitrators, etc., 2, 166 and n. 

Quadt, Count, 2, 346, 347. 
Quigg, Lemuel E., 2, 196 and «. 

Ragon, Colonel, 1, 299. 

Railroads, strikes on, in 1877, 2, i jff. 

Rainey, Henry T., 2. 307 n. 

Raizuli, Moroccan bandit, 2, 383, 384. 

Rathbone, Henr\- R., 1, 219. 

Raymond, Admiral. 1, 203. 

Raymond, Henr>' J., 1. 264, 265. 

Reconstruction, Lincoln's message con- 
cerning, 1, 155, 156; worst passion of 
extremists evoked by, 245. 

"Red, White, and Blue," 1, 354. 

Reed, Thomas B., and the Republican 
Nomination in 1896, 2, 120 and »., 139. 



INDEX 



441 



Reed, Colonel, 1, 163. 

Reld, Whitelaw, H.'s first meeting with, 1, 
330, 331 ; H. writes a leading article for, 
331; invites H. to join Tribune stafiF, 
331; virtually manager of the paper, 
334; his marriage, 404; asks H. to take 
charge of Tribune during his honey- 
moon, 405 ; perpetual oflSce-seeker, 2, 
133, 193; nominated for Vice-Pres., 133; 
H. condoles with, on his defeat, 134, 
13s; candidate for English Mission in 
1897, 155, and in 1898, 193 /.; heads 
special embassy to Queen Victoria on 
her Diamond Jubilee, 160; H. seeks to 
avoid friction with, 195 and 197; 1, 
134 n., 335, 336, 358, 361, 384. 435, 442, 
443, 445, 451, 455, 4S6, 2, 124, 125, i6r, 
162, 197, 361. Letters to, 1, 331, 336, 
340, 341, 342, 343, 345, 346, 349, 350, 
388, 390, 391, 392, 394, 396, 398, 404. 
425, 426, 428, 430, 432, 433, 434, 436, 
438, 4SI, 453, 456, 2, 118, 123, 130, 
134, 180, 191, 194, 195, 198, 207, 223, 
263. 

Reid, Mrs. Whitelaw, 2, 134. 

Repubhcan National Convention: (i860), 
nominates Lincoln, 1, 86; (1888), at- 
tended by H., 2, 131 ; (1896), nominates 
McKinley and declares in favor of gold 
standard, 149; (1900), and the Boer 
War, and annexation of Canada, 234; 
adopts a plank favoring Panama Canal 
route, 307; nominates Roosevelt for 
Vice-President, 342, 343. 

Repubhcan Party, in 1858, 1, 82; and Re- 
construction, 245, 246; and the Civil 
War, 420; makes Protection the corner- 
stone of its creed, 420; becomes the 
capitalists' organ, 422; why H. main- 
tained his allegiance to, 422, 423; 
change in principles and doctrines of, 
423, 424; split into factions on Gar- 
field's accession, 447, and labor trouble 
of 1877, 2, 4; and McKinley bill, 81, 
82; H.'s loyalty to, 128; ff.; why Blaine 
was nominated by, in 1884, 129; adopted 
protection as vital issue in 1888, and 
won, 130 J'.; and the McKinley tarifif 
bill, 133; defeated in election of 1890, 
133; and Hanna's campaign for nomi- 
nation of McKinley in 1896, 136 ff.; 
and the free coinage issue, 140; transi- 
tion in, during McKinley's candidacy, 



140, 141; forced to defend "honest 
money" in campaign of 1896, 150; com- 
pelled by popular feeling to nominate 
Roosevelt for Vice-Pres., 252; Roose- 
velt on his own services to, 338, 339. 
And see Silver Republicans. 

Republican State Convention of Illinois 
(i860), names Lincoln as III. candidate 
for President, 1, 86; (18O3), Lincoln's 
letter to, 200. 

Rciiew oj Reviews, 2, 321. 

Reyes, Rafael, Colombian envoy to 
U.S. after revolution in Panama, 2, 319, 
320; 306, 309, 352. 

Rhodes, Albert, 1, 360 n. Letters to, 1, 240, 
360, 387, 389, 393, 403, 406. 

Rhodes, James F., letter to, 2, 325. 

Richardson, H. H., 2, 53, 56, 132 n. 

Richmond, Henry, 1, 343. 

Richmond Examiner, 1, 210. 

Rico, Mr., 2, 311. 

Ridder, Herman, 2, 371. 

Ridgely, Mary. See Hay, Mary (Ridge- 

ly). 

Ripley, George, 1, 334 and n. 

Rivero, Senor, 1, 318. 

Rixey, P. M., 2, 402 and n. 

Rockhill, W. W., sent to China, to avert 
danger of dismemberment, 2, 244. 

Rome, 2, 103, 104, 106, 107. 

Romilly, Lord, 1, 283. 

Roosevelt, Robert, 2, 146. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, father of the Presi- 
dent, 2, 332. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, his warning to Brit- 
ish Cabinet on Alaskan boundary mat- 
ter, 2, 208-210; sends troops to Alaska, 
210; becomes President, 266; described 
by H. in letter to Lady Jeune, 266; his 
luck, 267; insists that H. retain his 
ofBce, 268 ; forces Germany to arbitrate 
claims of her subjects against Vene- 
zuela, 286 ff.; declines to act as arbi- 
trator, 288, 289; effect of his accession 
on State Dept., 297; decides questions 
of poHcy with increasing frequency, 
297; takes Panama business into his 
own hands, 297; signs Hepburn bill, 
299; prefers to have Congress select 
route of Canal, 302; Bunau-Varilla's in- 
terview with, 316; orders ships sent to 
Isthmus of Panama, to protect Amer- 
ican interests, etc., 317; orders landing 



442 



INDEX 



of armed force on the Isthmus to be 
prevented, 317; recognizes Republic 
of Panama, 317; solution of Panama 
question rested with, 321; writes A. 
Shaw as to methods employed by him, 
321; his action approved without qual- 
ification by H., 321, 323, 324, 325; 
letter of, to author, reviewing and 
defending the transaction, 327, 328; 
his early career watched by H., 332; 
early acquires national reputation, 333 ; 
Civil Service Comm'r, 333; a "good 
mixer," 32s', KipUng on, 333; H.'s close 
friendship with, 333, 334; Pohce Com- 
m'r of N.Y., and Asst. Sec. of Navy, 
334; congratulated by H. on service in 
Spanish War, 337; Gov. of N.Y., 338; 
praises H. on his Ambassadorship, 338, 
and himself on his governorship, 338, 
339; criticizes first Hay-Pauncefote 
treaty, 339, 340; on the Monroe Doc- 
trine, 340, 341: H. on his refusal to 
accept nomination for Vice-Pres., 342; 
is forced to accept, 343; congratulated 
by H., 342; becomes President, 344; 
H.'s letter of congratulation thereon, 
344; insists upon H. retaining his 
office, 345; relations of H. with, there- 
after, 345 jff.; their congeniality, 345; 
their close intimacy, 345, 346; presen- 
tation of medal to, from William II, 
346; condoles with H. on death of King, 
347; receives LL.D. from Harvard, 348; 
his Commencement speech praised by 
H., 348, 349; H. on his Western 
speeches (1903), 350, and on the round- 
the-world cruise of the Navy, 351; en- 
tries in H.'s Diary concerning, 351-361, 
363-365 ; on his prospect of reelection, 
352, 354, 356, 357; as a preacher, 355; 
his letter of acceptance, 355; his 
French, 356; his robust health, 357; his 
answer to Judge Parker's charges, 357- 
359, 382, 383; reelected, 359; reappoints 
H., 359; John Morley on, 360; his mes- 
sage of 1904, 360; described by H., in 
act of dictating, 362; wears ring with 
Lincoln's hair at inauguration, 363 ; his 
inaugural address, 364; as Bunthorne, 
365; prospective nomination of (1904), 
375, 376; nominated, 377; H. on his 
speech of acceptance, 379; and the 
negotiations concerning China, 386; 



and the Senate's treatment of arbitra- 
tion treaties, 392, 393; insists on H.'s 
remaining in Cabinet, 398, 399; 1, 367 
n., 2, 56, 152, 213, 261, 266, 300, 309, 
311, 312, 314, 322, 371, 372, 374, 390, 
391,400, 406, 407. Letters to, 1, 14, 2, 
291. 301, 308, 319, 334, 335, 337, 343, 
344, 346, 348, 349, 350, 363, 365, 368, 
379, 403- 

Roosevelt, Mrs. T. 2, 56, 334, 350. 

Root, EUhu, H.'s high regard for, 2, 270; 
F. B. Loomis quoted on diverse charac- 
teristics of H. and, 270-272; his address, 
"Ethics of the Panama Question," 
commended by H., 324; 208 «., 209, 
240, 254, 267, 284, 318, 319, 328, 342, 
348, 349, 353, 359, 362-376. Letter to, 
324- 

Rosebery, Lord, letter of, to H. on his 
ceasing to be Ambassador, 2, 180; 
III. 

Rosecrans, WiUiam S., and the Knights 
of the Golden Circle, 1, 168/.; H.'s 
interviews with, 169, 170; defeated at 
Chickamauga, 200, 201. 

Rough Riders, 2, 334. 

Rousseau, J. J., 1, 325. 

Rubens, Peter Paul, H. on his portrait 
of his second wife, 1, 289-291. 

Russell, Lord John (later Earl), his real 
sentiment toward the North, 1, 285; 
231 and n., 2, 172. 

Russell, Lord Odo, 1, 231. 

Russia, and France, 2, 234; and the "Open 
Door," 243, 244; some results of her 
attitude, 245, 246; and Manchuria and 
Korea, 367; H. urges necessity of re- 
specting integrity of China upon, 367; 
and the "convention of seven points," 
368 Jf.; forces quarrel on Japan, ZTof.; 
opinion in U.S., regarding, 371; finally 
brought to terms, 384; and Japan, 
peace negotiations between, 406. 

SalSa! H.'s parody of Emerson's 

Brahma, 1, 47. 
Sadowa, battle of, 1, 288, 313. 
Sagasta, P. M., his character, 1, 321, 322; 

317- 
Saint-Gaudens, his memorial to Mrs. 

Adams, at Rock Creek, 2, 60, 61 ; 

models bust of H., 397; 56, 396. Letter 

to, 400. 



INDEX 



443 



Salem, Indiana, Charles Hay begins prac- 
tice of medicine at, 1, 4; H. born at 
(1838), 5- 

Salem Monilor, Charles Hay's newspaper, 
1, 5, 6. 

Salisbury, Marquis of, letter to H. on his 
ceasing to be Ambassador, 2, 179; ne- 
gotiations with, concerning abrogation 
of Clayton-Bulwer treaty, 214 J".; 161, 
204, 206, 207, 220, 258, 282. 

Salvini, Tommaso, 1, 402 and n. 

Samoa, Germany and U.S. in, 2, 220; 
dispute with Great Britain and Ger- 
many over, 280 f. 

Sampson, W. T., 2, 167. 

Sanders, George N., 1, 180. 

Sanderson, Colonel, 1, i68, 169, 170. 

Santa Margarita Islands, 2, 284. 

Santo Domingo, 2, 399. 

Sardou, Victorien, his Madame Sans- 
Gene, 2, 103. 

Sargent, John S., paints H.'s portrait, 2, 
397:56. 

Saturday Renew, review of the Bread- 
winners in, 2, 13 n. 

Saulsbury, Willard, 1, 270. 

Savii, island of, 2, 283. 

Saxton, Rufus, 1, 163. 

Scammon, J. Young, 1, 342, 347. 

Schiller, Friedrich von, his Minna von 
Barnhelm, at Vienna, 1, 300. 

Scliley, W. S., 2. 167. 

Schoi^eld, John M., 1, 299. 

Schottenhof, the, 1, 304. 

Schurz, Carl, wishes to take part in the 
war, 1, loi; and J. H. Lane, 102; pro- 
poses to go to Germany for recruits, 
102, 103; "a wonderful man," 103; his 
fascination for H. explained, 104; 452 
and »., 2, 198, 254, 257. 

Schuyler, Montgomery, 1, 334 n. 

Scott, Robert, 2, 36. 

Scott, Winfield, his anaconda plan, 1, 
112; succeeded by McClellan, 123; 96, 
97, 113, 119, 141. 

Scott, Sir Walter, unveiling of bust of, 2, 
158, 160, 401. 

Scribner's Magazine, sonnet by Helen 
Hay published in, 2, 68. 

Secession, acuteness of question of, in 
1859, 1. 81. 

Secessionists, H.'s view of, 1, 150. 

Seckendorff, M. G., 2, 196 and n. 



Secret societies. See Greek letter frater- 
nities. 

Sedgwick, John, 1, 194. 

Senate of U.S., the, and the President, 1, 
260, 261; its treatment of treaties, 2, 
170; and the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, 
216; would never confirm treaty of 
alliance with England, 221; first Hay- 
Pauncefote treaty attacked in, 223 ff.; 
amended, 226, and passed, 226; action 
of, leads H. to ofTer resignation, 226, 
227; 34 % of, on blackguard side of 
every question, 254; ratifies second 
Hay-Pauncefote treaty, 261, 262; H. 
unreconciled to its share in making 
treaties, 269, 274; regarded by H. as an 
antagonist, 272; H.'s feeling toward, an 
obsession, 272; attitude of, toward 
H.'s treaties, exaggerated by him, 273; 
ratifies Hay-Herran treaty, 305; mal- 
treats arbitration treaties, 392, 393, 
399; refuses to permit H. to accept 
Grand Cross of Legion of Honor, 393; 
233, 260. 

"Senatorial courtesy," 2, 226. 

Serrano y Dominguez, F., Regent of Spain, 
1,316,317- 

Servants, of various nationalities, H. on 
contrasting characteristics of, 1, 324, 

325- 

Seward, Frederick W., 1, 250, 426 and «., 
434 and «. Letter to, 2, 211. 

Seward, WiUiam H., defeated by Lincoln 
in convenrion of i860, 1, 86; Secretary 
of State, 92 and «., 93; quoted on the 
disadvantage of growing old, 137, 138; 
cridcized by Greeley, 173; appoints H. 
Sec'y of Legation at Paris, 218; on the 
Motley imbroglio, 247 ff.; on condi- 
tions in U.S., in Feb., 1867, 250, 251; 
quoted, on executive appointments, etc., 
252^.; on Fessenden, 254, 255; praised 
by H., 255; his kindness to H., 253; on 
the charges against Dix, 255, 256; offers 
H. temporary employment in State 
Dept., 258; suggests H. as Minister to 
Sweden, 258; on the Carpenter paint- 
ing, 268; H.'s gratitude to, and praise 
of, 273; 96, 97. 98, 105, 109, "3. "8, 
124, 134, 180, 203, 204, 217 n., 257, 260, 
263, 264, 266, 267, 28s, 299, 2,9. 35 
Letter to, 1, 303. 

Seymour, Horatio, 1, 133. 



444 



INDEX 



N 



Shakespeare, William, Lincoln's fondness 
for, 1, 187; his Hamlet, 187, 209 n.; 
Macbeth, 187, 209 n.; Richard II, 187; 
King Lear in Vienna, 300, 301 ; 198, 209. 

Shanks, W. G. F., letter to, 2, 375. 

Shaw, Albert, 2, 321. 

Shaw, Leslie N., 2, 318, 353, 376. 

Shaw, Robert G., 1, 159 and n. 

Shelley, P. B., 2, I49- 

Sheridan, P. H., 1, 211, 264, 265. 

Sherman, John, criticized by Sumner, 1, 
260; H. favors nomination of, in 1888, 
2, 130, 131 ; under what circumstances 
appointed Secretary of State by Mc- 
Kinley, 154, 155, 156; his " lapse of 
memory," leads to his supersession by 
Day, 173; 1, 445, 449, 2, 5, 192. 

Sherman, Rachel, 2, 131. 

Sherman, WilliamT., 1, 21 1 , 325,373, 2, 49. 

Sherman Silver-Purchase bill, 2, 102 
and n. 

Shield, The, 1, 39. 

Shields duel, the, 2, 23. 

Sickles, Daniel E., U.S. minister to Spain, 
his character, 1, 316, 317; advises rec- 
ognition of Cubans as belligerents, 323, 
324. 326. 

Sidney, Viscount, 1, 282. 

Sigel, Franz, efifect on German troops of 
his removal from command, 1, 144 
and n. 

Silvela, Senor, 1, 318, 322. 

Silver, free coinage of, in the campaign of 
1896, 2, 140. And see Free Silver. 

Silver Republicans, bolt in 1896, 2, 149. 

Slater, M. H., letter to, 1, 375. 

Slavery, question of, a vital one, in pioneer 
settlements of Middle West, 1, 10; Lin- 
coln's views on, 77, 78; acuteness of 
question of, in 1859, 81; abolition of, 
accepted by H., as essential to restora- 
tion of peace, 150. 

Slaves, fugitive, anecdote of, 1, 18. 

Slocum, Henry W., 1, 194. 

Smalley, Goerge W., 1, 334 and «., 2, 154, 
168. Letter to, 391. 

Smith, John G., Governor, of Vermont, 
tells LincAhi of the Wood-McClellan 
intrigue, 1, 129-132. 

Smith, Joseph, 1, 354, 355- 

Smith, Roswell, and the serial publica- 
tion of the Bread-Winners, 2, 11, 12 
and n. Letter to, 11. 



Smith, William F. ("Baldy"), his rela- 
tions with McClellan, 1, 130; consulted 
by McClellan as to his candidacy for 
President, 130-132; asks to be trans- 
ferred from Army of Potomac, 132. 

Smith, Dr., H.'s conversation with, 1, 
230/. 

Smith, Rev. Mr., a Methodist colpor- 
teur, 1, 275. 

Social questions, H.'s views on, em- 
bodied in the Br ead-W inner s, 2, 14, 
15- 

Soldiers, vote of, in elections of 1864, 1, 
214; civic offices filled by, after Civil 
War, 419. 

Sohd South, 2, 256. 

Sonnenthal, the, 1, 300. 

Sons of Liberty. See Knights of the Gold- 
en Circle. 

Southern States, difficult problems of re- 
construction of, 1, 245 f. 

Southerners, held as prisoners at Point 
Lookout, and at Jacksonville, described 
by H., 1, 157, 161, 162. 

Spain, H. appointed first Secretary of Le- 
gation to, 1, 316; conditions in, in 1869, 
316^.; death of Republican cause in, 
328; the Cortes seeks a candidate for 
the throne, 328; Castilian Days, a pan- 
orama of history of, 362 J.; clamor for 
__ war with, after destruction of Maine, 2, 

,144; H. approves terms of settlement 
with, 197. 

Spanish-American war, H. on Roosevelt's 
share in, 2, 337; 169, 170. 

"Sphinx of the Tuileries, The," poem by 
H., 1, 228, 229, 376, 377. 

Spies of Germany, in U.S., 2, 278. 

Spinner, F. E., quoted, 1, 99, 100. 

"Split infinitive," the, 2, 37, 38. 

Spofford, Ainsworth R., 1, 340. 

Spoils system, during the War, 1, 185. 

Spooner, John C, his amendment to Hep- 
bum bill, substituting Panama for 
Nicaragua, adopted, 2, 299; 392. Let- 
ter to, 303. 

Sprague, Mrs. Kate Chase, 1, 257, 259, 
268, 340. 

Sprague, WiUiam, Governor of R.I., H.'s 
description of, 1, 101. 

Spring-Rice, Sir Cecil, 2, 77, 84, 404. 

Springfield, 111., in 1852, 1, 20; H. attends 
college at, 20, 21; in the campaign of 



INDEX 



445 



i860, 87; Lincoln's farewell to, 88; C. 
E. Hay, mayor of, 349. 

"Spunky Point" (Warsaw, Ind.), 1, 6. 

Stager, Mr., 1, 337, 338. 

"Stalwart" Republicans, 1, 448, 449. 

Stanhope, Earl, 1, 282. 

Stanley, Hon. E. L., 1, 210. 

Stanton, Edwin M., his feeling against 
McClellan, 1, 128; the pleasure of ask- 
ing favors from, 147; on Rosecrans at 
Chickamauga, 200, 201; on Lincoln's 
death, 220; 118, 126, 168, 170, 188, 189, 
214, 217 n., 261, 299, 2, 33. 

Stanton, E. M., Jr., letter to, 1, 351. 

Stanton, Theodore, 2, 356. Letter to, 167. 

State Department, under H., in the cam- 
paign of 1900, 253, 254; felt a new im- 
pelling force with Roosevelt's acces- 
sion, 297. 

States, the, and the Union, 1, 208. 

Stedman, E. C, 1, 362, 2, 396, 398. Let- 
ters to, 1, 315, 317, 408. 

Stephens, Mrs. Ann S., 1, 93. 

Sternburg, Baron Speck von, 2, 220, 281, 
290, 372, 385. 386, 387, 390. 

Stevens, Thaddeus, 1, 264. 

Stevenson, R. L., 1, 72, 2, 86. 

Stevenson, Judge, 1, 205. 

Stillman, \V. J., 2, 107. 

Stockton, Rev. Mr., 1, 206. 

Stoddard, R. H., letter to, 1, 361. 

Stone, Adelbert, 1, 351 n. 

Stone, Amasa, father of Mrs. H., 1, 351; 
refuses to contribute to campaign fund 
to ensure H.'s election to Congress, 437, 
438; H. has charge of business affairs of, 
2, i; death of, 53; 1, 386, 389, 390, 408, 
444, 445, 2, 18. Letters to, 1, 414, 415, 2, 
i.3>5, 6. 

Stone, Charles P., 1, 122 and w. 

Stone, Clara L., becomes engaged to H., 
and is married to him (Feb., 1874), 1, 
351. And 5ee Hay, Mrs. Clara (Stone). 

Stone, Julia G., mother of Mrs. H., 1, 351, 
2, 125. 

Stone, W. L., quoted, on H. and Theta 
Delta Chi, 1, 38, 39. 

Stowe, Mrs. H. B., her Uncle Tom's Cabin, 
2, 15. 

Stratford de Redcliffe, Lord, 1, 283. 

Strikes, alarming, in 1877, 2, i ff. 

Stuart, J. E. B., 1, 129. 

Sullivan's Island, 1, 159. 



Sumner, Charles, approves Lincoln's 
message of Dec, 1863, 1, 208; diimer- 
party given by, 260 Jf.; on exclusion of 
Cabinet OlScers from Tenure-of-Office 
bill, 260, 261 ; on the Dix Charges, 262; 
his purpose to write a history of Civil 
War times, 266, 267; his qualifications, 
266; grown arrogant with success, 267; 
H.'s further comment on, 270; his mar- 
riage, 280; 105, 253, 259, 260, 341. 

Sumner, Mrs. Charles, 1, 268, 280. 

Sumner, Edwin V., 1, 189. 

Sumter, Fort, fired on, and evacuated, 1, 
91; 105, 158, 159. 

"Sunrise in the Place de la Concorde," 
poem by H., 1, 226-228, 376. 

Superior races, relation of, to inferior 
races, 2, 250, 331. 

"Surrender of Spain, The," 1, 356 n. 

Sweden, vacancy in mission to, 1, 252 jff. 

Swinburne, A. C, 1, 379, 408. 

Swinton, William, 2, 36. 

Sykes, George, 1, 194. 

Taft, William H., 2, 348, 349, 353, 359, 

399- 
Takahira, Mr., 2, 371, 372, 373, 374, 375, 

384, 389- 

Tammany Hall, Irish and German ele- 
ments of, and the Pro-German propa- 
ganda, 2, 291; 253, 256. 

Taylor, Bayard, 1, 334 and «., 428, 456 
and n. 

Taylor, "Dick," 1, 350. 

Temporal Power of the Papacy, parlous 
state of, 1, 230, 231. 

Tenure-of-OfSce bill, proposed e.xclusion 
of Cabinet OfEcers from, 1, 260, 261. 

Terry, Alfred H., 1, 159. 

Thayer, Alexander, 1, 310. 

Theta Delta Chi Fraternity, H. chosen 
member of, 1, 38, 39; his associations 
with, 39, 40. 

Thomas, Captain, 1, 216. 

Thomasson, Nelson, 1, 19 «. 

Thompson, Jacob, 1, 176 w. 

Thomson, John D., H. attends private 
academy of, at Pittsfield, 111., 1, 19. 

Thomson, Mrs. John D., 1, 19. 

Ticknor and Fields, 1, 355. 

Tilden, S. J., 1, 423. 427, 428, 429- 

Tillman, B. R., 2, 380. 

Tillypronie, 2, 73, 99- 



446 



INDEX 



Togo, Admiral, 2, 371. 

Toledo, notes of a trip to, 1, 327. 328. 

Tripp, Mr., U.S. Consul at Samoa, 2, 220, 

281. 
"Triumph of Order, A," 1, 377. 
Trumbull, Lyman, 1, 20. 
Tuileries, the, Imperial reception at, 1, 

233 ff- 

Tupper, Sir Charles, 2, 206. 

Turgenieff, Ivan S., 2, 70. 

Turkey, H.'s visit to, 1, 306/. 

Turner, George, 2, 208 «., 209. 

Turner, J. M. W., 1, 288. 

Tutuila, 2, 281, 283. 

Twain, Mark, 1, 375, 2, 396. 

" Tycoon, the," H.'s nickname for Lin- 
coln, 1, lOI. 

Union, the, relation of States to, 1, 208. 

United States, crisis in aSairs of, 1, 75 £. ; 
tension and suspense in, during first 
weeks of Lincoln's administration, 91; 
and France, strained relations between, 
on Mexican question, 223 J".; Govern- 
ment of, controlled by captains of in- 
dustry, etc., after the war, 420; gradual 
tendency toward departure of, from 
attitude of political isolation, 2, 200; 
far-reaching consequences of changes 
scarcely perceived by people of, 200; 
eSect upon relations of, with Europe 
and Asia, 200, 201 ; had become a world 
power, 201; "imperial destiny" of, 229; 
rights of, not to be left in doubt, in any 
treaty concerning Isthmian Canal, 260, 
261; gradually permeated by German 
spies, etc., 278; Kaiser's protestations 
of friendship for, 290; and the Russo- 
Japanese quarrel, 368 jf . ; circular letter 
sent by H. to the powers, 373; proposed 
intervention of, in Russo-Japanese 
war, 384 J".; circular letter of 1905, 386, 
387. And see Alaska boundary, Ger- 
man-Americans, Germany, Great Bri- 
tain, Isthmian Canal, Panama Canal 
Co. 

Usher, John P., 1, 203, 217 m. 

Vallandigham, Clement L., Northern 
head of the Golden Circle, 1, 168, 169, 
170. 

Vanderbilt, Wm. H., 2, 2. 

Varilla. See Bunau-Varilla. 



Venezuela, question of collecting by force 
debts due to foreigners from, 2, 284^.; 
claims against, referred to Hague Tri- 
bunal, 289. 

Venezuela boundary question, and Cleve- 
land's message thereon, 2, 141 ff., 146, 
147, 162; later embarrassment caused 
by, 207. 

Victor Emmanuel II, 1, 231, 2, 104. 

Victoria, her Diamond Jubilee, 2, 160; 
her popularity, 161, 162; quoted, con- 
cerning H., 180; 73 «., 176. 

Vienna, H. appointed Charge d'Affaires 
at, 1, 278, 279; his arrival at, 286; his 
impressions of, described in letters to 
Nicolay, 286^.; persistence of medie- 
val ideals in, 287; frequency of church 
festivals, 287, 288; art galleries in, 288; 
the Belvedere, 288 Jf. ; street scenes in, 
291-292; the Ghetto, 292-295; the 
Haute Bourgeoisie of, 296; Gramont's 
first reception at, 296, 297; vast estates 
of religious orders in, 304; H.'s impres- 
sions of, 312, 313. 

Villiers, Mr., 2, 204. 

Virginia, secession of, 1, 105. 

Wade, Benj. F., 1, 254. 

Wadsworth, Mrs. Ahce Hay, her remin- 
iscences of H., 2, 65-67; 408. 

Wadsworth, James S., 1, 194, 195. 

Wadsworth, James W., Jr., 2, 397 «. 

Wagner, Richard, 1, 300. 

Wagner, Fort, 1, 159 and n., 160. 

Waldersee, Count, sent to China at head 
of punitive expedition, 2, 244, 245; his 
instructions, 244, obeyed with relish, 
24s; prevented from commanding 
joint expedition, 284. 

Wales, Prince of, popularity of, 2, 161; 
1, 285, 286. And see Edward VII. 

Walker, John G., chairman of Isthmian 
canal commission, 2, 298, 305. 

Walker Canal Commission favors Nica- 
ragua route, 2, 298. 

"Wanderlieder," 1, 376. 

War, kaleidoscopic contrasts of, 1, 163. 

Ward, Artemus, 1, 187. 

Ward, Quincy A., 2, 397. 

Warren, G. K., 1, 194. 

Warsaw, 111., Charles Hay moves to, 1, 6; 
contrast between Providence and, 43; 
H. returns to, after graduation, 52 jf.; 



INDEX 



447 



his father's views as to his remaining 
there, 54, 55; shines in H.'s eyes in 
comparison with Washington, 85; H. 
returns to, in 1867, 273; his hfe there, 
March to June, 274-278, 305. 

Washington, a miserable sprawling vil- 
lage, 1, 85; society in, 2, 70; alarm as 
to safety of, 97, 98, 99; in summer of 
1861, 109, no; on the day after Bull 
Run, 114; strange multitude gathered 
in, during the Civil War, 116. 

Washington Chronicle, H. a contributor 
to, 1, 146. 

Watts, Henry M., appointed Minister to 
Austria, 1, 311. 

Wayland, Francis, 1, 39. 

Wealth, creation and accumulation of, in 
U.S., after Civil War, and its results, 
2, 139, 140. 

Webster, Daniel, Seward and Lincoln on 
enduring fame of, 1, 109; 76, 77. 

Weed, Thurlow, quoted, on H. and Nico- 
lay, 1, 222; suggests newspaper editor- 
ship to H., 272; 129, 132, 252, 253, 254, 
454- 

Welles, Edgar, 2, 21 and n. 

Welles, Gideon, death of,2,2i; importance 
of his diary, 21, 22; 1, 137, 217 «., 
264. 

Wells, David A., 1, 428, 429. 

Werther, Baron, 1, 299. 

West, Mr., RepubUcan candidate for Gov. 
of Ohio, 2, 5. 

Western Reserve University, 2, 401 n. 

Westminster Abbey, 1, 280. 

Weyler, Marshal, 2, 143. 

"What Cheer " hostelry, 1, 38. 

Wheaton, Colonel, 1, 124. 

White, Andrew D., 1, 456 and «., 2, 249. 

White, Henry, his long experience in the 
diplomatic service, 2, 187, 188; effect 
of his personal qualities on his standing 
in England, 188; of great assistance to 
H., 188; his share in negotiations for 
abrogation of Clayton-Bulwer treaty, 
214 J.; 98 and «., 103 and «., 159, 212, 
244, 360. Letters to, 157, 204, 216, 220, 
261, 262, 264, 281, 342, 369. 

White, Horace, 1, 452 n. 

"White Man's Burden, The," 2, 250. 

Whitman, Sarah Helen, described, 1, 44; 
H.'s relations with, 44, 4Si 61, 64, 72, 
387. Letters to, 45, 57, 62. 



Whitman, Walt, 1, 46, 2, 42 and n. 

Whitney, Harwood 0., brother-in-law of 
H., 1, 5 n. 

Whitney, Mrs. Helen Hay, her reminis- 
cences of H., 2, 64, 65, 406, 408. Letter 
to, 318. 

Whitney, Helen J. (Hay), sister of H., 1, 
5«- 

Whitney, Joan, 2, 397. 

Whitney, Payne, 2, 397 n. 

Wilhelm, Archduke, 1, 297. 

WiUiam II, German Emperor, anxious to 
be on good terms with U.S., 2, 220; 
sends Waldersee at head of punitive ex- 
pedition to China, 244, 245, 284; his 
early utterances, 275, 276; early attitude 
of subjects toward, 276; and German- 
Americans , 278 ; and the Spanish- Amer- 
ican War, 279; seelcs harbors "for his 
personal use" on coast of Lower CaU- 
fomia, 284; agrees to arbitrate claims 
against Venezuela, 287, 288; learns 
that the Monroe Doctrine is a fact, 
290; his protestations of friendship for 
U.S. become more marked, 290; Hol- 
leben imitates his attitude toward U.S., 
292; recalls Holleben, 293; presents 
statue of Frederick the Great to the 
American people, 294; H.'s opinion of, 
295; forces war upon the world (1914), 
295; attitude of agents in U.S., 295; 
sends his Chinese medal to Roosevelt, 
346, 347; and the "Open Door" and 
integrity of China, 385, 386; perplexity 
as to his meaning, 387, 388; which is 
made clear to-day, 388, 3S9; 182, 248, 
281,350,351,374,404, 405. 

WiUiams, George F., 2, 151 and «., 380. 

Wilhams, Roger, 1, 26. 

Wight, Isle of, 2, 75. 

Wilson, Henry, 1, 185, 186. 

Wilson, James H., 1, 211. 

Winon's Point Shooting Club, 2, 88 and 
«., 89. 

Winter, Sir J. T., 2, 203 n. 

Winter, William, 1, 334 and n. 

Wise, C. M., 1, 203. 

Wise, Harry, 1, 251. 

Witte, Sergius, 2, 370. 

Wolcott, Edward O., 2, 195, 336- 

Wolcott, Roger, 2, 194. 

Wood, Fernando, and the alleged attempt 
to corrupt McClellan, 1, 130-132. 



448 



INDEX 



Wood, Leonard, 2, 348, 349- 
Woodberry, G. E., his Edgar Allan Poe, 

quoted, 1, 43, 44. 
Woodford, Stewart L., 2, 194. 
Wool, John E., 1, 1 19. 
Woolfolk, A. C, brother-in-law of H., 

1,5 n. 
Woolfolk, Mary P. (Hay), sister of H., 

1, 5 n. 

Wu Ting Fang, Chinese Minister to U.S., 

2, 236, 237, 238. 



Yale University, members of Faculty of, 
protest against " rape of Panama," 2, 
322, 323:401 n. 

Yates, Richard, 1, 168, 170. 

Yellowstone Park, described by H., 2, 
116, 117. 

Young, J. R., 1, 205. 

Zichy, Count, 1, 299. 

Zola, Emile, Une Page d'' Amour, 1, 397. 

Zorn, etches H.'s head, 2, 397. 






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